Why Me?
by yesitsme
Summary: *COMPLETE - Couldn't Be Happier* When Rory hides a painful secret from everyone, will things ever be the same? (R/J & L/L)(New Chapter Summary: Final Chapter - Fast forward three years, what happened to Jess & Rory? Lorelai and Luke?)
1. Default Chapter

Why Me?  
  
"Don't walk away from me…"  
  
They were sitting by the lake, and she got up to walk away. He grabbed her arm, and he wouldn't let go.  
  
"Brad, let go, your hurting me!"  
  
"Oh yea, maybe then you'll listen!" He got up.  
  
She just wanted to hang out with Lane today instead of him, and he flipped out. Starting yelling, saying that she  
never wants to hang out with him and that they are wasting there time on this relationship. She couldn't take the   
arguing anymore, so she walked away. But then he had grabbed her arm, and it hurt. He wouldn't let go either…  
  
"Brad what's your problem - I said to LET GO of me!"  
  
She shook her arm from his grip and held it close to her with her other hand.  
  
"What the hell do you think your doing??" she yelled.  
  
"I think I'm trying to have an adult conversation with you - but you wont have it!"  
  
"That's not true, I tried to listen but you wont stop yelling at me!"  
  
"Well yelling seems to be the only way that you WILL listen!"  
  
"Shut up Brad! Tha…"  
  
Before she could finish, he slapped her. Her head jerked to the side while his hand forcefully hit her cheek. She couldn't believe it - she knew he got mad and that he could lose his temper but she never thought he would hit her. Never.  
  
"Oh my god… Rory, baby, I'm so sorry!!"  
  
He went to touch her face as a gesture of sympathy but she turned away.  
  
"Brad, can I please go now…"  
  
"Rory wait we need to talk, you need to stay with me, I didn't mean to do this, honest, I don't know what I was thinking I just got caught up in the moment and, oh God Rory please, please don't walk away…"  
  
She didn't know what to do. She was afraid if she tried to leave he would hurt her again, but at the same time she felt just as unsafe staying with him. But, hey, maybe it was an accident. She knows he loves her and that in a regular state of mind he would never do anything like this.   
  
"Ok Brad, Ill stay."  
  
"Thank you - come sit down with me we have a lot we need to talk about - I'm so sorry…"  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Billy Madison."  
  
"Happy Gilmore."  
  
"Water Boy."  
  
"Eight Crazy Nights!"  
  
"That doesn't count he isn't actually IN the movie, he just, talks." Luke said.  
  
"Oh your just jealous because you cant think of anything else Adam Sandler is in which would mean that I won!"  
  
"Sure, Lorelai, you won."  
  
"HA! Knew it. So where's Jess and Brad today?"  
  
"Jess is upstairs and I think Brad said he had to work or go to the library or something…"  
  
"Oh, so he's meeting up with Rory."  
  
"No why would you say that? He said work or library."  
  
"Yes, work or library. That's exactly where Rory said she was going."  
  
"Work?"  
  
"No, library. Then to Lanes house."  
  
"I see."  
  
"Yup, that means they are secretly meeting up and don't want us to know about it."  
  
"Didn't do a very good job of it."  
  
"Apparently not, can I have another cup of coffee?"  
  
"Sure thing."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
They had talked, and she just said what he wanted to hear so she could get out of there quick. How could he do this? He betrayed her trust, there relationship would never be the same. Every time they argued the fear would remain that maybe he would snap and hit her. But that's not him, he was so apologetic about it - obviously he didn't mean to. What am I going to do? she thought. Lorelai was at Luke's, she saw her there on her way home. Thank god Lorelai didn't see her. She didn't want to do anymore talking right about now. She just wanted to go home and get some ice on her face - it was extremely red and even a little puffy. She didn't think he hit her that hard, but she guessed the shock of him doing it overruled the pain of the actual hit. Some make-up should cover it. She definitely didn't want her mom to find out - shed flip. It was a one time thing and she didn't want to break up with Brad over it. A year down the drain because of an accident? No way. She heard the door open.  
  
"Rorrrrry! The best Mom in the whole wide world is home with lots and lots of food for dinner!"  
  
Damn, she's home early… Rory thought.  
  
"Ok Mom, Ill be out in a sec!"  
  
"Sure thing babe, Ill keep it warm for you. So how was your day?"  
  
Rory thought for a second… she hated lying to her Mom and hardly ever did and when she did, she usually ended up telling her the truth later.  
  
"It was interesting I guess!" Rory yelled out to the living room, she was still in the bathroom trying to cover up the   
red handprint on her face. Interesting sounded good enough.  
  
"Interesting huh? How's Brad?"  
  
Oh my god, she knows! How'd she find out? What am I going to say? Rory panicked and a million thoughts ran through her head.  
  
"Mom, I can explain…"  
  
"Its Ok Rory, you don't have to lie to me to meet up with Brad you know. Just tell me, I thought we were open with things like this?" Lorelai said calmly.  
  
Whew, she doesn't know. She's just mad that I lied about going to Lanes… well, I didn't lie, its not like I planned to meet up with Brad. He just, showed up when I was on my way to Lanes and took me to the lake. Well, whatever, at least she doesn't know… Rory thought.   
  
"I know Mom I'm sorry, It wont happen again I promise."  
  
"Alright… well what are you doing in there? Get out here and eat!"  
  
Rory finished up putting on makeup and sighed. You couldn't tell at all, that's the way she planned to keep it. She   
walked out of the bathroom with a big smile on her face and sat by Lorelai.  
  
"Thanks Mom"  
  
"Your welcome honey…" 


	2. Some Anniversary

Two months had gone by, and her and Brad had been getting along better than ever. She called Lane a littler later on that day Brad had hit her, and told her she didn't feel good and that she was doing to stay home with her Mom. She hadn't thought about what Brad had done for over a month now. It was a fluke, a once in a lifetime thing and It would never happen again. She didn't even worry about it anymore. In fact, she was going to meet up with him now for there 1 year, 2 month anniversary. She was excited and couldn't wait to see him. They were meeting up at her house when she was done with school and Lorelai agreed (reluctantly) to go to Sookie's for the evening.   
  
"Ok, I'm coming home at 10:30 and no later! So any kissing on the couch better be done by 10:29 or there will be hell to pay I tell you!"  
  
"Got it. No kissing past 10:29, or I must pay hell."  
  
"Aw that's my sweet precious daughter." She kissed Rory on the forehead.  
  
"Ill see you then"  
  
"Bye Mom!"  
  
"Bye Rory!"  
  
Lorelai left and Rory plopped down on the couch. Brad wasn't due to come over for another hour, he was working. She called Lane but she wasn't home, she called Paris but she wasn't home either. Fifteen minutes had gone by and she was getting really bored. So, she called Dean. After all, they were friends and friends do talk on the phone.  
  
"Hi, is Dean home?" ….  
  
"This is Rory" …  
  
"Ok thanks."  
  
She waited for Dean to get on the phone and began to worry. What am I gonna say? Was this a mistake calling him on me and Brad's anniversary?  
  
"Hello?" There he was.  
  
"Dean?"  
  
"Rory?"  
  
"Yea. Um, hey."  
  
"Hi."  
  
"How are you?"  
  
"Good…"  
  
There conversation eventually got less awkward and they were actually enjoying themselves. Before Rory knew it, an hour had gone by.  
  
"Hey Dean, listen, it was so great talking to you. I really miss this."  
  
"Me to."  
  
"But I gotta go, Brad is coming over. Actually, he shoulda been here fifteen minutes ago…"  
  
"Ok I gotcha, just, you know, call me later or something."  
  
"I will definatly do that."  
  
"Alright, bye."  
  
"Bye."  
  
She hung up. She felt great, they had just had a great conversation as friends, her boyfriend was coming over on there anniversary and tonight was going to be great.   
  
"That's nice that you two are talking…"  
  
She jumped.  
  
"Brad! Geez how'd you get in here? You scared me!"  
  
"Yea well, I got in here about 15 minutes ago. I was on time but you seemed a little occupied talking to Dean…"  
  
"Brad were just friends you know that. Plus I only called him because I was REALLY bored and Lane and Paris weren't answering there phones."  
  
"Coming up with excuses already?"  
  
"I thought you'd be mad, I was just telling you the truth."  
  
"Yea. I bet."  
  
"Brad what's your problem? You know that I love you so don't do this, not on our anniversary…"  
  
She went over to give him a hug and he pushed her away.  
  
"Ok. Or not."  
  
"Listen Rory, I cant do this. You cant keep talking to Dean If we are going to keep going out. I mean, why after 14 months did you suddenly feel the need to call him?"  
  
"After 14 months? I've been talking to him since we started going out…"  
  
"What??! And you just, failed to mention this to me?!"  
  
"Its not a big deal!"  
  
"Yea well, to me - talking to your ex-boyfriend on OUR anniversary is!"  
  
Why was he getting so angry? She didn't do anything wrong, she didn't know it would upset him so much by just talking to Dean.  
  
"Why are you getting so jealous? We've been doing so great these past 2 months, don't ruin it by a pointless argument."  
  
"Oh, pointless? So now a discussion about our relationship is just, a pointless argument? I see how much I mean to you now."  
  
He began to walk towards the door and she ran in front of him.  
  
"No, Brad, stay. I'm sorry Ok? I didn't know it would make you so mad!"  
  
"Move Rory."  
  
"No Brad - stay with me. Don't do this, not on our anniversary…"  
  
"You did this. Now move Rory, I'm warning you."  
  
"Warning me? What the hell does that mean?"  
  
She knew what it meant but it was to late, he grabbed her and pushed her out of his way. This time there was no apology.   
  
"You jerk! You cant treat me like this I hate you!"  
  
He was halfway out the door, but stopped and turned around.  
  
"You HATE me now?!"  
  
He walked back in the house.  
  
"How is it that you have room to hate me? You're the one talking to your ex-boyfriend behind my back!"  
  
Rory stepped back and he stepped forward.  
  
"He's my friend Brad, my f-r-i-e-n-d! Why cant you understand and accept that?"  
  
"Because I love you Rory, I don't want anything to jeopardize our relationship, especially not Dean."  
  
"That's never going to happen."  
  
"Sure it isn't."  
  
"You know what? Maybe you should leave, you obviously don't believe a word I say anyway."  
  
"Leave? Now? No way. Now I'm staying."  
  
"Get out"  
  
She grabbed his jacket and lead him towards the door, she got about two steps before he stopped.  
  
"I said I was stayin."  
  
He grabbed her wrist and flew it off him. She grabbed his jacket again, this time he pushed her away and she fell to the ground.   
  
"Rory don't touch me again."  
  
"Same for you asshole."  
  
"What?"  
  
Mistake. She saw the anger in his eyes this time, he never looked more pissed off before.  
  
"You heard me…" her voice was shaky.  
  
"Yea I did…" She was still on the ground and he hovered over her. He picked her up and looked her in the eyes.  
  
"Don't ever call me that again, you understand?"  
  
"Get away from me Brad, your scaring me…"  
  
Suddenly she felt a shock of pain shoot through her face, and she was on the ground again.  
Oh my god, he punched me… Rory thought. She couldn't believe it. She looked up and this time, he was gone. He didn't want to talk or apologize or anything, He just - left. What was she going to do now? She had no idea. She got up and walked into the bathroom. Memories came back of last time she was in here for the same thing. This time, it would be a little harder to hide. It already had swelled and began to turn colors. She cried. She couldn't help it - the love of her life had hurt her again and it wasn't a fluke. She blamed herself, she should have known not to talk to Dean or get an attitude with Brad when he was just trying to be protective. But hit her? That wasn't right, that wasn't the way to deal with things. But she couldn't break up with him, what if he flipped out again. She cried harder, and before she knew it, her cell phone rang. She looked at the caller Id, it was Brad. Should she answer it? No, she thought, he would just apologize and try to make things better when they couldn't be fixed. Not this time, not ever. She turned off the ringer and looked at the clock, it was 9:00. She was tired, the crying wore her out. She went into her room and crawled into bed. Some anniversary… she though. 


	3. Here It Goes

"I just don't get it - Rory said she would be home all night so why would she not answer the phone?" Lorelai looked at Sookie and she could see the worry on her face.  
  
"Oh Lorelai don't worry about it, they probably went out to get some ice cream or something,"  
  
"Yea, Ice cream… of course why didn't I think of that. Oh wait, I did and I came to the conclusion that we have ice cream in the freezer and that it would be stupid to go out and get ice cream if it was right there in the freezer just waiting to be eaten!" Lorelai sighed and thought of reasons why Rory would be gone or might not answer the phone.  
  
"Sookie!" Lorelai yelped.  
  
"Lorelai!"  
  
"What if they are… you know???"  
  
"Lorelai stop it you know they aren't. Rory's got a little more sense than that!"  
  
"Yea I know… but what if something's wrong?"  
  
"Oh would you stop it already! They are fine, if something was wrong Rory would call you."  
  
"What If she cant! What if giant blobs of, I dunno.. um… stuff attacked her and she cant make it to the phone!"  
  
"Your over reacting. And the blob reference was completely irrelevant."  
  
"Yea I know, but it's the last movie we watched together. I hate not spending time with her. Brad just seems   
to be taking up ALL her free time now and it bugs me."  
  
"Your just feeling like that after a year and 2 months? Lorelai, its time to start getting used to him…"  
  
"I am I am I just… I don't know maybe your right. But I still want to stop by."  
  
"No! Lorelai don't! … Ok I was being sarcastic go see what's going on over there."  
  
"Thanks Sookie you're the best."  
  
Lorelai gave her a hug and started on her way outside. It was about 9:30 and she had been calling for the past 15 minutes. First it was just to see how everything was, then she started getting worried when Rory didn't answer her cell phone or the house phone. She drove home and saw that all the lights were off in the house, which was a little weird since they were supposed to be watching movies all night. Oh no, maybe there… Lorelai cut off her thought when she saw that Brad's car wasn't in the driveway. She got out of her car and walked toward the door and went to unlock it, but it wasn't locked. She walked in and looked around a little bit.  
  
"Rory?" she called out, but didn't get a response.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
She heard someone open the door and instantly ran out of bed and locked her bedroom door. Please don't let that be Brad… she thought. She wasn't ready to talk to him, her face was swollen, her back was sore from being thrown down and she had a headache. This had never happened to her before, she didn't even know anyone that this has happened to. She's only 17 - he's only 18. Why her? How would she hide it this time? Its not fair she shouldn't have to live this way. They had been doing so well, but now that was all over. Something had to be done. But right now - she just wanted to know who was in her house. She prayed it wasn't Brad. Then she heard the voice, the familiar voice that was so reassuring and comforting she almost cried for joy that it was her and not him.  
  
"Rory?" she heard - she unlocked her bedroom door.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"…Hey mom."  
  
Lorelai looked over at Rory and could barely see her, after all, all of the lights were still off.  
  
"Rory baby, where's Brad? Did you guys fight or something?"  
  
She walked into the kitchen and flipped on the switch and put her things down. She looked over at Rory who just walked in.  
  
"Oh my God! Rory! What the hell happened?!"   
  
Lorelai ran towards her daughter and held her face in her hands, looking her up and down and then kissing her forehead and hugging her. Rory panicked, she saw the pain in her moms eyes just from looking at the bruise, it would kill her to know its from Brad…  
  
"I'm fine Mom, um, Brad went home."  
  
"Well damn Rory what happened? First you don't answer the phones then I come home and the lights are off and the doors unlocked, now you have a black eye!"  
  
"Mom calm down! Brad, he um, had nothing to do with this…"  
  
Another lie. What's wrong with her, Lorelai would help her and comfort her and never let anything bad happen to her - but she couldn't ask for help. She just stood there.  
  
"I didn't think so, well, I had hoped not… but what happened??"  
  
She sat Rory down next to her at the kitchen table and they were knee to knee looking right at each other. This was Rory's moment of truth, should she tell her mom? She ran a list of pro's and con's through her head, she could tell Lorelai was getting anxious and frustrated because Rory wouldn't tell her what had happened. Here it goes… Rory thought. 


	4. Explanations

"I fell.."  
  
Lorelai looked at her daughter and studied her for a couple of seconds, then repeated her words.  
  
"You... fell?"  
  
"Yea, I tripped on something and hit the banister." Rory said calmly. She pointed towards the stairs and Lorelai   
look over at them.  
  
'That cant be true... what really happened?' Lorelai thought, looking back at her daughter. Rory seemed to be hiding something though and it worried her. The past couple of months just hadn't been the same, it seemed like something was off. But the trust Lorelai had in Rory to tell her everything overruled the gut wrenching feeling in her stomach that something really was wrong. She gave Rory another shot to tell her the truth.  
  
"Rory, honey, are you sure that's what happened? It looks really bad and your not known to be the klutz around here..."  
  
"Yea Mom, I'm sure, geez what else coulda happened?"  
  
'Damn, I guess that's the truth then.' Lorelai thought, it was hard for her to just let it go but she did for the sake of Rory, she looked tired and whenever Rory was tired there wasn't much use in trying to get her to talk.  
  
"Well, ok then, lets get some Ice on that."  
  
Rory thanked God that her Mom believed her. But then she asked the fateful question.  
  
"Where'd Brad go then? You'd think he would stay and help you out a bit." Lorelai said as she applied ice to Rory's eye.  
  
"Ouch..."  
  
"Sorry babe, but seriously - where'd he run off to?"  
  
"He didn't run off to anywhere. I told him I didn't feel good tonight and that Id call him later."  
  
How many more lies were going to be told before Lorelai found out or Rory admitted the truth? She wasn't sure, and it scared the hell out of her.  
  
"And he just left, like that? On your anniversary?"  
  
"Yea well we got into a little argument. Then we made up but I told him I was tired and that I wasn't really in a movie watching mood and to go home. I guess he just didn't want to argue again so he left."  
  
Lorelai and Rory soon got off the topic of Brad and talked about Lorelai's night at Sookie's, and how Rory had scared her by not answering her cell phone.  
  
"Why didn't you answer?" Lorelai asked.  
  
"Oh, um, I must have turned off the ringer on accident or something and forgot."  
  
"Oh... ok. Well try not to do that next time Ok?"   
  
"Alright mom."  
  
Rory picked up her phone and turned the ringer back on, then continued her conversation with her Mom.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Brad walked into Luke's diner, walked right past Luke, and went to go upstairs.  
  
"Whoa where do you think your going?" Luke asked sharply.  
  
"Uh, hey, I need to talk to Jess do you think that would be Ok?"  
  
"Yea sure, I think he upstairs but I don't know for sure..." Luke replied, but not without giving him a dirty look. Luke didn't like Brad. He didn't know what it was about him, he just didn't. He and Jess hung around each other 24/7 and he always invited himself in. He did no harm to anyone or anything though, so Luke guessed he was alright. Luke knew Brad and Rory were dating - hell, all of Stars Hollow knew. They all also knew that Jess liked Rory since the day he got here. They almost had a chance until Brad had transferred to Chilton from a local public school. Rory had fallen for him instantly and left Jess devastated in the process, but Jess and Rory remained friends and Brad and Jess quickly became best friends. They were alike in so many ways that it almost scared Rory hanging out with the 3 of them together. Brad was upstairs now and knocked on the door.  
  
"Jess? Let me in man I need to talk with you!"  
  
There was no response so Brad let himself in.  
  
"Jess? You in here?"  
  
He wasn't home. So Brad decided he'd wait for him. 'Again?' he thought to himself, 'How could I? I love her so much!' Even though it was his fault - he felt sick for causing Rory so much pain. 'Ive gotta call her...' he picked up his phone and dialed her number. It rang and rang, then sounded like someone picked it up and hung it up. He called again - but this time it just rang, she didn't pick up. 'I call her again in a few...' he thought. He had seen his Moms boyfriends do this before, hit his mom – but nobody had ever told him it was wrong, not even her. But if it wasn't, then why did he feel so bad? He knew he had a temper but he never thought that Rory would end up being the victim of his thoughtlessness. He loved her, and he'd do anything for her. But he couldn't stand it when Dean was mentioned, that always seemed to just push him over the edge. He called Rory again – still no answer. 'Maybe I should go over?' he thought. 'God, she must hate me. I wonder If she told Lorelai, no, she wouldn't. She didn't last time. Damn I need to get a hold of her…' he thought. He picked up his phone for what he said would be the last time and dialed.   
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Rory! Its me, please don't hang up!"  
  
  
'Oh God' she thought, 'its him, what am I going to do?' She excused herself from the table where her and her mom were having some dinner. Lorelai noticed Rory's face when she had seen the caller Id on her cell phone – it was shocked. It looked that way for only a second though, and it was something only a mother could have noticed. This sparked her interest, after all, if they had left on a good note then why the shocked face instead of a happy one? When Rory went into her room and shut the door, Lorelai came over and reluctantly listened to Rory's side of the conversation. 


	5. Its Over

Rory didn't know whether to hang up or try to listen to his side of the story. She knew there was no justification to what he did, but just listening to his voice made her shake with fear and long for him at the same time. Nobody had this affect on her before. If Dean had ever tried this, she would have told her Mom or someone instantly without any hesitation, so why would the situation be different with Brad? She loved him. Plain and simple, just like that. But enough to endure this? 'No way' she thought, 'This is it. Its over.'  
  
"Rory I'm so sorry! Please, please forgive me. I love you so much and I just get jealous but you know Id never hurt you on purpose. You're the only thing good in my life and I don't know how I could do that to you! I'll get help, things will be different, I'm so sorry baby…"   
  
He sounded so, truthful. Like he meant every word with his heart. But then again, this is exactly the way he sounded last time.   
  
"I know your sorry. But that doesn't change what happened, you don't hurt someone you love, or better yet, someone you claim you love. I'm not going to do this Brad. Its over. You and me - over for good. You need serious help! Do you understand what would happen to you if this got to my Mom or Luke or Jess? You'd be the one in trouble here." She paused for a second, analyzing everything she had just said. 'Oh God' she thought, 'I just told him it was over…' She began to cry.  
  
"Rory no baby its not over I love you so much, more than anything in the world and I'm never going to let this happen ever again! Don't cry, don't cry baby its ok, everything's going to be ok. A year and 2 months Rory, a year and 2 months! You don't want to throw that all away, I know you don't."  
  
It was true. She didn't want to throw it all away, she wanted to be with him forever. But not like this, not under these circumstances.   
  
"I know I don't. But, but, but I'm going to!" It was hard for her to get the words out between her sobs. "This will never work, I thought it might after the first time it happened but now I know it wasn't just a fluke Brad! I, I, I, can't be with you. I love you, but I ju, just can't do this… goodbye Brad. Good luck."  
  
"Ror - don…"  
  
She hung up on him before he could finish. She turned her phone off for good. She began bawling and looked in the mirror. She was a mess. Her hair was all tangled from laying bed, her eyes were puffy from the crying, and the side of her face was jut getting bigger each passing hour. She figured it would swell, but now the makeup wasn't doing a good job covering it. 'Oh my God… I'm going to have to tell my mom.' Rory thought. She winced when she had a flashback to the look of pain on her Moms face when she saw that Rory was hurt, and it killed her inside.  
  
*************************************************************************************  
  
Lorelai stood there, at Rory's door and listened to Rory's side of the conversation. It was obvious, he had hit her and she had tried to hide it. Not only that - but he had done it before. She almost collapsed when the thought finally registered in her head. Someone had hurt Rory, and her own mother hadn't even known. Lorelai was about to walk into Rory's room and comfort her when she heard Rory's voice and stopped just before knocking on the door.  
  
"Hi Luke, is Jess there?"  
  
"Yea Rory, are you Ok? You sound like something wrong."  
  
"Yea Luke I'm fine, thanks for asking but I do really need to talk to Jess - please?"  
  
"Of course, hold on."  
  
Rory heard Luke call out for Jess and she began to panic. Why had she called him? Why didn't she go right outside and talk to her mom? But before she got to answering any of her own questions, Jess got on the phone.  
  
"Rory?"  
  
"Hey Jess."  
A/N - Hey all! Ok, I know some of you don't like the whole Rory getting abused thing but this is a fan-fic and it does get better. It is an R/J so look for that to come in the very near future. Id REALLY appreciate reviews so I know im not doing this for nothing! And any suggestions are welcome to. Thanks for reading and Ill try to update soon. Sorry this chapter was so short!! 


	6. That Kids Dead

A/N - Thanks for the reviews, I just wanted to say that someone said this isn't like Rory - that she would tell her Mom right away and that she's strong enough to do so. I just wanted to say that when your in love you will deny that anything's wrong even when this does happen. Plus it's a fan fiction J But seriously thanks for the reviews! Flame or no flame I respect them all - so now on with the show!  
Summary: Jess finds out about what happened to Rory & the outcome of it all.  
"Hey, what's up?"  
  
"Um, nothing I guess... is Brad with you?"   
  
"Well I just walked in as you called, he might be upstairs? Let me ask Luke..."  
  
She heard him yelling to Luke asking him if Brad was there. 'God, just, let him not be there for once...' she thought.  
  
"Ror?"  
  
"Yea?"  
  
"He's here, Luke says he's upstairs. Do you want to talk to him?"  
  
"NO!" she had said it loudly and with more intensity than she had meant to, which lead Jess to believe something was wrong between the two of them.  
  
"Whoa Rory, are you Ok? What's wrong??"  
  
She began to cry again as she thought about the last hour and what had happened in it. She couldn't help it, Jess had always been there for her no matter what and it just seemed so right to confide in him. He wasn't her mom, so she wouldn't have to explain why she hadn't told someone earlier or why she stayed with him after the first time. This was Jess and he would listen like he always did.   
  
"Rory please tell me what's wrong... whatever it is I can help you..."  
  
"Jess..." she hesitated. "Brad hit me."  
  
She waited, but got no response.   
  
"Jess?"  
  
"He... hit you?"  
  
"Yea... I'm sorry I never told you earlier I just thought it was a fluke the first time and..."   
  
Jess cut her off and she heard his voice raise in anger.  
  
"The FIRST time??? He's done this to you before?!"   
  
"Just once Jess, please calm down!"  
  
"So, this asshole hits you - not once but twice, and you don't say anything? Not even to Lorelai?"  
  
"No Jess it was to hard, I just... I'm scared Jess. I don't know what to do."  
  
"That's funny. Because I do. I know exactly what to do. Let me call you back - I promise I will and go tell your Mom everything that happened. This dick is never going to hurt you again Rory, I promise."  
  
"Jess, please don't do anything crazy I don't want you to get in trouble!"  
  
"Bye Rory, Ill be over in a few."  
  
He hung up the phone. 'What's he going to do?' she thought - and then she remembered. Brad was just right upstairs.  
  
********************************************************************************************  
  
Jess pounded upstairs and slammed open the door. Brad was sitting on the couch now watching TV, not even seeming to be phased by the fact that he hit his own girlfriend. He jumped up when Jess had slammed open the door.  
  
"Jess! Man I'm glad your home, we need to talk."  
  
"About what Brad? About, maybe, the fact that you beat your girlfriend?" Jess was livid by now, and was quickly in Brads face.  
  
"What? I never hit Rory man! I would never do that, who the hell told you that?" Brad began to back away as Jess got closer.  
  
"Wow. So now your going to lie about it to me, your 'best friend'?? She called me Brad - called me CRYING and said that YOU hit her!"   
  
Jess pushed Brad and he fell back onto the couch. Brad jumped back up and put his hands in the air, showing defeat.  
  
"Id never hit Rory! I love her! And why the hell are you taking her side over mine?? That's not fair man you never even listened to me!"  
  
"Oh I seriously doubt that anyone's ever going to listen to a damn word you have to say after they find out that you beat Rory." Jess repeated the words in his head 'beat Rory.' The anger built inside him to much and he snapped. With one blow he knocked Brad clear across the living room and onto the floor.   
  
"Hey Brad - why don't you hit me huh? C'mon - hit me!"  
  
"What the fuck, no way your crazy!"  
  
"Is it because I'm not a girl? Or, not Rory? Or is it because I'm someone who doesn't weigh half of what you weigh and you know that at anytime I could kick your sorry ass? Huh Brad, is that it? Because I cant seem to figure this shit out!" Jess was screaming and walking towards Brad again, with pure rage in his eyes. Brad began to get up and run but Jess caught him and turned him around. Jess punched Brad in the stomach and he fell to the floor.  
  
"Jess..." Brad coughed and doubled over, "I never hit her..."  
  
"Get the fuck out of here. If you ever come back I swear to God ill kill you."  
  
Brad got up and ran out of the apartment. He got downstairs and Luke grabbed his arm and stopped him.  
  
"What the hell happened to you?!"   
  
"Nothing, I, I, I gotta go!" Brad squirmed out of Luke's grip and ran out of the diner. Luke looked after him until he was gone.  
  
"Caesar! Take over for a few minutes! I got something to take care of...." Luke stormed upstairs and into the apartment.   
  
"What the hell did you do to that kid?!"  
  
"Nothing he didn't deserve." Jess was changing his shirt, the other one had blood on hit from when he had hit Brads face.  
  
"And what hell did he do to deserve it?!" Luke yelled.  
  
"I cant tell you right now. I gotta go."  
  
"Oh like hell you gotta go. Your grounded! You cant just beat someone up and walk outta here like nothing happened, you need to learn some respe..."  
  
Jess cut him off and said on his way out, "He hit Rory. Ill be back later..."  
  
Jess walked past Luke who stood there stunned, and couldn't believe what he had just heard.  
  
"That kids dead."   
A/N - Alright - I hope you enjoyed Brads little ass kicking! More to come soon now that people are actually reading!! Hehe, also, Id like to see 5 more reviews before I post another chapter. I know I probably sound all greedy but I don't want to waste my time on something nobody plans on reading… I'm open to suggestions and flames are welcomed if its your honest opinion!! Thank you!!  
NEXT CHAPTER SUMMARY: Rory tells her mom, Jess comforts Rory, and the romance begins 


	7. Wants and Needs

A/N - Hey! Thanks for the reviews, its REALLY great knowing someone out there is reading :-p And thanks to the people who sent me a few tips, you know who you are and I read you loud and clear, thank you! Now, on with the show!  
  
Summary: Rory has some explaining to do to Lorelai, and Jess.   
Why Me? - Chapter 7  
Rory had just hung up with Jess and she laid back on her bed. 'This is insane…' she thought. Then she heard a knock on her door. She quickly wiped her eyes and fixed her hair the best she could.  
  
"Come in!"  
  
Lorelai walked through the door and studied her daughter. 'How could she not tell me? What did I do wrong?' she thought. She smiled at Rory and began tearing up.  
  
"Mom, what's wrong?" Rory asked, knowing fully what the answer was.  
  
"Why couldn't you tell me Ror, I just… I thought we shared everything…" Lorelai began to cry as she saw her daughters face. How long had he been doing this? Why did he do this? How could she not have known? She asked herself so many questions and wanted so many answers, but knew she would have to wait to get them. She walked over to Rory and gave her a huge hug and laid down in the bed with her.   
  
"Mom, I am so sorry… I really really really am! Its just, the first time I thought it was an accident and I was scared and ashamed and I didn't know what to do…" Rory began to cry with Lorelai, and they held each other in there arms for what seemed like forever until finally, Lorelai broke the silence.   
  
"When did it start?" Lorelai calmly asked, as much as she wanted to know she was afraid to ask because she didn't want to hear that it had been going on for months and months and her be clueless to it.  
  
"I don't know exactly…" Rory knew it was a lie but talking about it made it reality. Talking about being hit made it really happen. Before it was all just a dream and they never broke up and he never hit her. But the conversation with Jess made her think, and the conversation with her mom made it hit her hard. "It just, happened one day. The day I wanted to hang out with Lane instead of him… he got really angry and just slapped me. I was so scared mom, I was terrified. It was almost in a sense, not real because I know that someone who loved me and someone that I loved would never hurt me. But I guess it wasn't like that for him, I don't know, mom I never meant to hurt you, I'm so sorry! I'm so scared, I never want to see him again…"   
  
Rory wanted to start crying even harder but she couldn't. She had cried so much that she couldn't do it anymore. This didn't happen to Stars Hollow, this didn't happen to her, this happened on street corners, and where the husbands beat there wives and where kids are afraid to come home because there dad might be drunk and hit them. But never in a thousand years did she think this would be her. She was a victim, just another victim of abuse, a number, a statistic. It happened everyday, but she couldn't understand why to her.   
  
"Rory, don't worry. Honey I will take care of you and protect you forever. Brad will never step foot in Stars Hollow again, you understand? I will tell everyone to look out for him and if they ever see him to call the police. Ok honey? I'll do everything in my power to keep you safe, you know that. I love you."  
  
"Thanks Mom."  
  
Lorelai thought a minute then decided she wanted some answers. Rory was having a hard time and she respected that - but she just had to know what happened earlier.   
  
"Rory, honey, I know this is really hard for you and all but what happened earlier today? Why did he hit you?"  
  
"I was bored, and nobody was answering there phones so I decided to call Dean. Well, he answered and we got to talking. It was really innocent talking, nothing big just about school and work and stuff. Then I realized I had been talking to him for a really long time, and that Brad was 15 minutes late. So I told him I had to go and that Id talk to him later. When I turned around - there was Brad, all pissed off and standoffish. I told him Dean and I were nothing and that I loved him but he wouldn't have it, we argued and he tried to leave. I wouldn't let him, and he told me to get out of his way. I wouldn't, so he pushed me aside. I told him that I hated him, and that just pissed him off more…"  
  
Lorelai was listening intently as her daughter told her everything that had happened. 'The banister?' Lorelai thought, 'I'm such an idiot, no banister can do that much damage'.  
  
"… and then basically he threw me down, picked me up, and then punched me and left. I was so scared Mom, I didn't know if he was going to come back or do it again or what and I just… was scared."  
  
"I know its Ok, listen, why don't you get some sleep and we will talk about all of this tomorrow, I plan on taking this to the police and his parents. He wont get away with this honey, I love you." She kissed her daughter goodnight on the forehead and got up off the bed.   
  
"Goodnight Mom, thank you so much."  
  
Lorelai walked out of the room and upstairs to her bedroom. Once there, she changed into her pajamas, crawled in bed, and cried herself to sleep.  
  
********************************************************************************************  
  
Rory heard the knock on her window and jumped. She grabbed the phone that was beside her bed and walked over to the window with it, planning to use it as a weapon if necessary. She crawled out of bed and turned on the light, fully prepared to throw the phone and run upstairs. But when she eventually got up the courage to call turn on the light, she saw no other than Jess standing there looking slightly confused.  
  
"Ror… hey Ror!" Jess whispered as loudly as he could. Rory walked over to the window and slide it open.  
  
"Jess, what are you doing here??" Rory asked him, almost sounding annoyed.  
  
"Do you not want me here? I can go, I just thought maybe we could talk or something… or go out? Whatever you want is fine I'm down for whatever your down with…" Rory cut him off, "Jess, your babbling. Just come inside."  
  
He blushed a little, but not enough for her to notice. He crawled inside her window as he had done many times before. Every time Rory and Brad would argue, she would call up Jess and ask him for advice. They were best friends, just like Jess and Brad were, but they always seemed to have this special connection that Brad and Rory never had. She knew that he had liked her before her and Brad started dating, but she wasn't sure if he did anymore. If Rory and Brads fights were really intense, he would come over and comfort Rory, usually sneaking through her window so Lorelai wouldn't know and so one of Stars Hollows spy's wouldn't catch him going to Rory's house and spread the word, only making things worse. The sat down on her bed, Rory towards the top and Jess almost falling off at the bottom. He still had a thing for her, he figured he always would. But in the past he just could never do that to Brad. Now everything was changing, everything would soon be very different, and he couldn't wait.  
  
Rory looked at Jess and was glad he was there, but was to tired to do anymore explaining.   
  
"That looks pretty bad." Jess said, referring to Rory's cheek. She put her hand up to it and touched it, forgetting that the makeup had all come off when she was crying.  
  
"Yea, I guess…" Rory stated uncomfortably. She could tell that Jess cared, she could sense it in the way he was talking to her. He was being very quiet and very gentle with the things he said. He usually wasn't like this, but Rory could tell he wanted to do something to help, do something to make her feel better. She wanted him to do something to help and make her feel better as well, so she decided to offer him to stay there with her.  
  
"Hey Jess?"  
  
"Yea Rory?"   
  
"Will you stay here with me tonight, I'm just, afraid Brads gonna come by…"  
  
"Oh…" Jess was stunned at the offer but quickly replied, "Sure, of course, I mean If you want me to."  
  
Rory smiled a little at his uneasiness.  
  
"Thank you so much, I'm sure my Mom will understand. But what about Luke? He…"  
  
"Knows." Jess interrupted. "He knows. I had to tell him really quick on my way out, he wasn't gonna leave me alone until I did."  
  
"Oh God, he's going to kill that kid!" Rory sat up abruptly and began to panic. "Why would you tell Luke?! He's going to beat the hell out of him and then he's going to get in trouble and then what if he gets put in jail!? Where will you live? What are we gonna do???"  
  
"Rory - stop for two seconds! Luke isn't going to do anything, at least not now he wont. The kid already got the shit kicked out of him, I think Luke's gonna wanna wait until he's at his best so he can get a good fight in." Jess smiled, hoping to make Rory feel better.  
  
"Jess… you beat him up? What were you thinking? He's your best friend!"  
  
"WAS my best friend Rory, WAS."  
  
Rory looked at him and could see the hatred in his eyes. She didn't know what to say. She still loved Brad, love isn't something that you just get over and she knew that. She knew it would take time, after all, she just lost her boyfriend, one of her best friends, lied to her mom, and broke everyone's trust in one day. But she couldn't help at that time to think about what like would have been like with Jess, with someone who would have treated her right and never hit her. Now she was afraid everyone could snap like that, and was unsure of even her closest friends and family. Jess just seemed so easy to get along with. Like she didn't have to work so hard at the friendship, that it was just there and always would be. That's what she loved about Jess more than anything. That he was just there, and she knew he always would be.  
  
"Rory, I know this probably isn't the best time but, I want you to know that I care about you - alot. And that I will never let Brad do anything to hurt you again, or anyone for that matter. You know that, right?" He stared deeply into her eyes and saw the answer before she could say it.  
  
"Of course I know that Jess. I care about you a lot to… I just hope you can understand that right now I cant get into a relationship. God, its only been a few hours since Brad and I broke up. A year Jess, a year and two months gone. I don't know what to do…"  
  
Jess crawled up to the top of her bed and hugged her.  
  
"Things are different now Rory, I just need you to give me a chance. I'm willing to wait if your willing to let me know when your ready for another relationship. I don't want to pressure you into anything, and I don't want to be your rebound guy. So take your time because I'm not going anywhere."  
  
Rory smiled and moved over to one side of the bed, she patted her hand on the other side signaling for him to come lay down next to her. He did, and they wrapped there arms around each other. She felt so safe, so comfortable, so right. This is what she wanted. This is what she needed.  
  
She slipped beneath the covers and laid her head gently on his chest. Jess stayed above the covers and watched Rory intently as she got comfortable. She listened to his heart beat and slowly feel asleep feeling completely safe for the first time in almost a year and a half. Hours passed by, and Jess watched Rory sleep. This was what he wanted, this pure bliss and happiness he felt when he was with Rory. The way she was so beautiful, even when she slept, the way she could always make him feel better, the way the sight of her put butterflies in his stomach even though he would never admit it to anyone. That is what he wanted. That is what he needed.  
A/N - Ok, this chapter is the first one I actually took more than one day on. I usually get pretty impatient and try to rush things. Plus this is my first fan fiction. I forgot to inform you guys about that, sorry! But anyway, please review because I will love you forever if you do! Thanks for reading, and Ill probably update sometime soon. I'm never sure of my schedule so I'm not exactly sure when, but soon pretty much sums it up J 


	8. Road Trip

***Three weeks later. Brad is long gone, and Rory & Jess hang out 24/7. What happened is still fresh in Rory's mind, as it is Jess's, Lorelai's, and Luke's. Although it is not talked about much now, it is evident how much Rory has changed.***  
  
*Luke's Diner*  
  
"Hey Luke..." Lorelai says, sounding exasperated as she sits down at the counter.   
  
"Hey, what's wrong?"   
  
"Its Rory, Luke, I don't know what to do with her. She's broken... she lost the guy she loves who treated her like shit, she cant find it in her heart to trust anyone, she doesn't even want to have movie night with me! She just wants to sleep... and when she isn't sleeping or going to school she is with Jess. What's up with that?" Lorelai asked, looking up from her coffee cup and straight into Luke's eyes.  
  
"How am I supposed to know?" Luke replied.  
  
"I don't know, just thought Jess might have mentioned something to you about it."  
  
"Yea, right, Jess and I have a hard time saying hello to each other, never mind some sort of human conversation."  
  
Lorelai grinned, "Just thought id ask."  
  
"Alright, well, I gotta get going. You know, other customers..."  
  
"Alright, bye Luke."  
  
Lorelai got up from the counter and walked out the door, she decided maybe it was time to have a talk with Rory. To tell her she's sorry about what happened, but that she's still young and needs to start moving on. Or maybe that was to much? Hell, Lorelai had no idea what to say, she just wanted her daughter to feel better.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
*Gilmore House*  
  
Rory plopped down on her bed and picked up a book that was laying there.  
  
"Read this, its really good." Rory handed it to Jess.  
  
"Hm, is it REALLY good, or just... good?"  
  
"Oh its REALLY good I promise." Rory stated as she smiled at Jess.  
  
"How do you know Ill think its good? Maybe in your mind its great and perfect but in my mind its crap and a waste of my time." Jess raised his eyebrows at her, waiting for an answer.  
  
"Well, that's because I know everything and I know that that book right there in your hand, is something you'll be pleased with."  
  
"Really, you know everything?"  
  
"That's the rumor."  
  
"Ok, so then why do you park in a driveway and drive in a parkway?"  
  
"Um..."  
  
"Thought so."  
  
Rory and Jess smiled at each other. Rory knew it was to soon to get into another relationship but he was the only guy she trusted, the only one who made her feel safe. She had decided earlier in the day, before he came over, that she was going to give their relationship a shot. Now she just had to find a way to tell him. She hadn't told her mom, or anyone for that matter about her decision. He was the only one who treated her like she wasn't a porcelain doll.  
  
Jess looked into her eyes and saw she was deep in thought. I wonder what she's thinking about... he thought. He wanted her more than anything in the world. She made him change, she made him be a better person, and he loved her for it. Now he wanted to show her how much he loved her, how much he wanted them to be together. He hoped it wasn't to soon but this was his only shot.  
  
"Jess?"  
  
"Yea?"  
  
"I wanted to say tha..."  
  
Jess quickly cut her off with a kiss. It was simple at first, but then became more passionate with his tongue exploring every inch of her mouth. She couldn't believe it, he was actually kissing her. It was better than she could have ever imagined it. It was better than he could have ever imagined it. She put her arms around his neck and pulled him in closer to her. He placed his hand at the small of her back and leaned her down on her bed, gently placing himself on top of her. His hand moved from the small of her back around to her stomach, she could feel his hand begin to move up her shirt and she jumped.   
  
"Jess..." she was breathing heavy and was obviously shaken by what just happened.   
  
"Rory, oh my God, im so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, are you ok?" He moved off her body and backed up, allowing her to sit up.  
  
"I um, I think you should go."  
  
"Ror,"  
  
"Jess just, please go." Rory felt the tears welling up in her eyes and Jess saw she really wanted him to go.  
  
"Ok." He grabbed his jacket and left out the front door, almost knocking Lorelai over on the way out.  
  
"Whoa there speed racer, wheres the finish line?" Lorelai barked.  
  
Jess didnt say anything back, just glanced over his shoulder to make sure he hadn't knocked her over and kept walking. By this time, Rory was crying. She hadn't kissed anyone but Brad for over a year and then this, it was almost too much. It was weird, but in the best way possible, so she didn't know why she was crying. If she wanted him off her, all she had to do was say so, but she didn't have to kick him out. God I blew it... they both thought. Rory heard footsteps.  
  
"Jess please just go ok?!" Rory yelled, but was shocked when her mother stood in her doorway.   
  
"Oh Rory baby, whats wrong?" Lorelai walked over and sat by her daughter. Rory wiped her eyes and sat up.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Nothing? Ok... then um, why are you crying?"  
  
"Im not."  
  
"Rory, im not an idiot. What the hell did Jess do??"  
  
"Jess didnt do anything Mom!" Rory yelled.  
  
"Why are you yelling at me, Im just trying to make sure your Ok!"  
  
"Well, Im fine alright! Just... leave me alone!"  
  
"You know what Rory? Not this time. Im not going to sit back and watch my daughter get hurt again. You lied to me about Brad, and now your lying to me about Jess!"  
  
"Im not lying to you about anything Mom, Jess didnt do anything!"  
  
They both sighed and Lorelai stayed seated beside her daughter. It was obvious she wasnt going to budge until she heard the truth.  
  
"We just kissed and I freaked out thats all."  
  
"You... and Jess... kissed?"  
  
"Yea Mom, you know when two people but there lips together and..."  
  
"I get it Ror."  
  
"Yea, well we kissed and I just freaked out and started crying and told him to leave. He didnt do anything wrong, I swear. I thought it was great but then I thought about Brad and I just... lost it."  
  
Lorelai looked into her daughters eyes when she had said that and saw the sparkle was gone. Everytime Brad was mentioned  
  
"That's it, were getting out of here. You need to get your mind off things and I know the perfect way to do that."  
  
"Mom im not really up for anything crazy right now..."  
  
"Well guess what? Were going on a road trip. Pack your bags because we are leaving tomorrow morning!"   
  
And with that Lorelai got up and walked out before Rory got to say no. Lorelai walked into the kitchen and hoped to God she just made the right decision. Oh well, she thought, guess theres no turning back now...  
A/N - Ok I didn't really like this chapter but Its been a while since I updated. Does anyone have any suggestions, flames, rants, raves? Please review and tell me what you thought! Thanks! 


	9. Late Night Goodbye

Why Me? - 9  
Rory decided it was time for an explanation. She was sure Jess was completely baffled as to what had happened earlier that night, and he had probably figured it was his fault. She dialed his number and waited for him to answer.  
  
"Luke's Diner."  
  
"Jess?"   
  
"Oh, uh, hey Rory."  
  
"Hi, listen, I just wanted to say I'm really sorry about earlier it was just the whole thing about me not kissing anyone in, god knows how long and then kissing you and… it was just weird for me."  
  
"Alright. Sorry If I made you go to fast…"  
  
"No no, Jess it definatly wasn't you! You were… great."  
  
They both smiled. There was a silence and then Rory decided she should probably tell him about the road trip.  
  
"I'm going on a road trip with Mom."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I don't know, she just said it was time for one and left before I had the chance to say no."  
  
"Evil."  
  
"I dunno, I think it would be nice to get away from Stars Hollow for a little bit. Lovely town, but I've noticed the people here are a little wacky."  
  
"Yea I thought I was the only one who saw that."  
  
They both laughed and continued talking for what seemed liked forever. Rory glanced over at her clock and it read 1:30am.  
  
"Oh my God its 1:30 in the morning!"  
  
"Yea I noticed that to."  
  
"I should probably get going, I haven't even started packing and Im leaving soon."  
  
"Soon?"  
  
"Yea, she wants to leave tomorrow, I mean, this morning."  
  
"Oh, you didn't mention that."  
  
"Sorry I must have forgot."  
  
"So I don't even get to come over and give you a proper goodbye?"  
  
"Well I guess you could now?"  
  
Jess smiled and quickly replied.   
  
"Sounds like a plan."  
  
"Alright, I'll see you in a few then."  
  
"Bye Ror."  
  
"Bye."  
  
Jess sat back on his bed and thought for a minute. Was going over there the right thing to do? What if something happened again and she freaked out? Eh what the hell, he thought, I'm just going over there to say bye I really need to calm down. He wondered how he was supposed to stay calm when the girl of his dreams just invited him over for a late night "goodbye". He got up and began to walk out the door, then remembered Luke. He looked over at him but he was sound asleep. Jess sneaked out the front door and made his way over to the Gilmore house.  
A/N - Hey! Sorry this one is wicked short but I figured I should update. My next one will be longer, with more R/J action. And hopefully another update soon. Any suggestions? Rants? Raves? Flames? Come one come all! Hehe, ok thanks for reading and ppppplease review! 


	10. I Want This

Why Me? - 10  
  
Rory just got out of the bathroom, from freshening up. She didn't want to look bad for Jess, after all, this might be the last time they see each other for a while. Only God knows how long her Mom was going to take her on this crazy road trip. She was laughing to herself about the thought of her and her mother not coming back for months when she heard a soft tapping on the window.  
  
Rory smiled as she opened the window for Jess, "Hey."  
  
"Hey" he replied, quietly sneaking in.  
  
He finally got in the window and slowly closed it behind him. When he was done, he took of his jacket to reveal a tight black shirt that he had been wearing to bed which outlined his seemingly perfect body. Rory continued to stare as Jess threw his jacket over her computer chair.  
  
"Whoa Ror, eyes up here!" He pointed to his eyes with two fingers and had a sly grin on his face. "I feel so violated…" he said. Rory blushed a deep red and turned around.  
  
"Haha, hey Ror its Ok. You can stare at me all you want. Your going to want to get a good mental image when your out there all lonely on the road and you need a man to think about back home." he stated, half jokingly and half serious. Rory turned back around and looked at him. 'He's so perfect…" she thought. He was everything she wanted. He was kind to her, was intelligent, shared her love for books and was extremely good looking. She had replayed the kiss between them in her head and all she could think about was how much she wanted to do it again, how much she really wanted Jess to love her and be her boyfriend. Not all guys, and certainly not Jess, were like Brad. She thought about Brad and instantly looked down. Jess walked over to her and lightly took hold of her shoulders.   
  
"Rory, are you Ok?"  
  
"Jess, I just… I want…Your so…" she looked at him and stared into his eyes. 'This is the right thing to do' she thought. 'This is what I want.'  
  
Rory grabbed his face and pulled him into a kiss. It startled Jess who fumbled to find a place to put his hands on Rory that he thought she wouldn't mind. He finally placed them at her hips as the kiss deepened and they both relaxed. Jess pulled away and gave Rory a look as if to say, are you ok with this. She nodded her head and they began to kiss again. Jess wrapped his arms around her they meet at the small of her back and she wrapped her arms around his neck. She back up towards her bed and Jess laid her down on it. Jess stopped again as Rory looked at him. 'Oh God she's amazing…' he thought.   
  
"Rory are you sure you want to do this?"  
  
"Jess, I want this more than anything. This is all I've ever wanted. You and I are perfect for each other and I'm the idiot for never seeing it there before. Don't you want this?" she asked, starting to get up.   
  
"Of course I do but I don't want this to be rushed. I want you to be sure you want this and not regret it later, I want to be everything but your mistake."  
  
Rory laid back down beside him and whispered, "I want this."  
  
They began kissing again as Rory lifted Jess's shirt off his body. He placed his hands under her shirt and then moved them behind her back. He found her bra strap and slowly unclasped it, then proceeded in removing her shirt. Rory looked at the clock, it was 2:00am.   
  
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Jess glanced over at the clock and it was 4:30am. He looked down and Rory, who was wrapped up in his arms. He smiled when he noticed how beautiful she was when she was sleeping, then he leaned over and kissed her forehead.  
  
"Rory, wake up…" he waited for movement then saw her blink. "Hey." he said, smiling.  
  
"Hi there." she smiled back, and looked over at the clock.  
  
"Oh my God, its 4:30! You have to go, I don't know how early my Mom wants to go on this road trip and from past experiences its usually pretty early in the morning."  
  
"Rory - calm down! I know I have to go anyway, Luke wakes up at 5:30 every morning and if Im not there by the time he wakes up he'll kill me."  
  
"Oh… well, my Mom never has woken up this early before anyway so I don't see why she would start now." she replied, smiling at Jess. She rested her head back down on his chest, and he grabbed a loose strand of her hair and began tangling it in his fingers.  
  
"Rory?"  
  
"Yea?"  
  
"What now…" Jess asked, Rory sensed the seriousness in his voice and turned her head to face him.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Well, is this it? Do we just, do this and then act like nothing ever happened or are we going to be something now…"  
  
Rory breathed in and out deeply and thought about what he just said, and what she could say to assure him that she wanted something.  
  
"Jess, I made love to you. Do you really think I don't want a relationship out of this?"  
  
Jess felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders, she didn't regret what happened. She embraced it. He kissed her forehead and then began to get up.  
  
"I should really go now…"  
  
"I know. I don't want you to leave though."  
  
"I don't want to leave either."  
  
"But you have to."  
  
"Yes, I have to if I want to live another day."  
  
Jess got up off the bed and put back on his boxers, pants, shirt, and then grabbed his jacket off the chair. Rory didn't blush once seeing his naked body when they weren't being intimate. She was still nude under the covers, but didn't plan on getting up seeing she was much to comfortable to do so. Jess put on his jacket, unhitched the window lock and slowly opened the window making sure it didn't make a sound. He turned around and walked back towards Rory.   
  
"Will you remember me out there on the road?" he joked.  
  
"Well gee I don't know. I mean there's so many guys out there that I just might forget you and I….."  
  
He leaned over her and kissed her passionately before she got a chance to finish her sentence.  
  
"That should help you to not forget."   
  
He got up and walked towards the window, sneaking out and not making a sound. When he was out he turned around slowly and closed it, then smiled and waved bye to Rory who was watching him from her bed. She waved back and then watched him go out of sight. She turned around and found a comfortable position on her bed. For once, she was happy. She knew she had made the right decision and for the first time felt like she had something to look forward to the next day.  
  
Jess sneaked up the stairs and back into his room, going undetected by Luke. He took of his pants and his jacket and fell into his bed. He glanced at the clock, it was 5:00am. 


	11. Im Going To Give A Damn

Why Me? - 11  
  
"Road triiiiiiiiip!!!" Lorelai yelled as she slammed open Rory's door and pounced on her bed.  
  
"Argggg." Rory grunted. "Mom! Its to early, its 6:00!! I've only gotten like, an hour of sleep!!!"  
  
Lorelai looked at her weirdly and Rory realized the mistake she had just made. "Well I mean it feels like I've only gotten an hour of sleep."  
  
"Oh, ok… Anyways are you ready!!"  
  
'Whew' Rory thought, 'that was way to close…'  
  
"Um yea almost, I guess." Rory went to go pull off the covers and then realized she was still naked. "I just, gotta change into what Im going to wear in the car."  
  
"Well, ok then get up kiddo and lets find you something." Lorelai said, already picking through Rory's closet.  
  
"Um, do you think I could have a little privacy?" Rory warily asked.  
  
"Privacy?" Lorelai asked, then laughed. "Oh my sweet daughter, unless your naked under there I think that it wont be to risqué for me to see you in your pajamas sweets." Lorelai smiled and went back to picking through Rory's closet.  
  
'Damn…' Rory thought, 'How am I supposed to explain to her that I'm naked?!'  
  
"Well, uh, I slept in a big shirt last night and somehow, it um, uh, I must have taken it off during the middle of the night because I was to hott but I don't remember it, um, all I remember was waking up and my shirt being off but I was to tired to go get it, you know?" Rory was praying that she bought the story, because if she didn't Rory had nothing better.  
  
Lorelai sure as hell didn't buy that story, but she didn't want to stress Rory out more than she already obviously was. "Ok hun, Ill just, be out in the kitchen I guess." Lorelai flashed a fake smile Rory's way then walked out of her room.  
  
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"Jess!" Luke barked, "Wake up!"  
  
"What the fu…"  
  
"WATCH your language" Luke said cutting off Jess who was giving him a disgusted look by this time.  
  
"Whatever, what do you want?"  
  
"I want you up and working in the diner, I gotta run to Hartford real quick to get some part for the stove."  
  
"Tell Caesar to watch the diner!" Jess mumbled, rolling over.  
  
"Just get up Jess, ill pay you overtime if you watch the diner for me just for the hour or so while I'm out."  
  
"Ughhhh fine!" Jess replied, getting up. He slipped on his jeans and ran his fingers through his hair and made his way down to the diner, right behind Luke who had stayed up there to make sure Jess was coming down.   
  
Jess began serving customers and Luke walked out the front door and made his way to Jess's car. He had decided to take Jess's earlier that way Jess couldn't leave until he had come back. Luke was just about to step into the car when he noticed someone familiar walking down the street. It looked like the kid was trying to keep his face hidden but was clearly looking for someone or something. He got out of the car and began to follow the kid. Soon, the kid had walked down the Gilmore street and Luke began to wonder what the hell this kid was doing. Then suddenly, the kid stopped and looked up and around, exposing his face to Luke.  
  
"Jesus Christ!" Luke whispered. "That's Brad…"  
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Lorelai made some coffee and sat down at the kitchen table, wondering what was wrong with Rory but not wanting to jump to conclusions.   
  
"Rory babe, are you done doing… whatever yet?"  
  
Rory walked out of her room and smiled at her Mom, "Yes ma'am, are you ready for a road trip!!" Rory said excitedly.   
  
"Hell yea I am, but lets have some coffee first." Lorelai said, trying to get her daughter to sit down with her and have an actual conversation with. They hadn't had one in a long time, but all of a sudden her daughter seemed very happy and wanting to talk.  
  
"Ooooh coffee! Definatly a girls best friend."  
  
"Yea… hey Rory?"  
  
Rory swallowed her coffee and looked up at her Mom, who had a distinct 'we need to talk' face on.   
  
"What?"  
  
"Listen, I know that you and I haven't been very… open with each other lately. But you seem like you don't want to talk to me. I feel like every time I try to be there for you, you just push me away and don't want me around. It really hurts babe, because I love you to death and want to help you but I just, don't feel like you want me to."  
  
Rory sat there in disbelief, she never realized how much she really had hurt her Mom by not talking to her and shutting her out. In fact, she hadn't really even noticed she had done it.  
  
"You've been with Jess so much lately…"  
  
Rory cut her off. "Mom DON'T bring Jess into this. Don't blame him for us not communicating…"  
  
"I'm not! Im just saying ever since you ended things with, um, Brad that Jess is the only one you ever hold a conversation with for more than 10 minutes. Its frustrating babe, I don't know what to do to get you to talk to me. Seems like you have Jess now and don't even need me!"  
  
"Mom stop! I said don't blame him for us not communicating! You don't understand, no one does. He doesn't judge me or say what I want to hear. He's straight about everything and I feel so safe around him. If I tried to talk to you it would have been 'its gonna be ok, I love you its gonna be ok' when really it wasn't! Jess just… makes me feel safe."  
  
"Well he sure is around a lot." Lorelai said, sounding defeated.  
  
"Yea, and Id like to keep it that way. Lets not argue about him Ok?"  
  
"Ok, ok… why are you being so sensitive about this?"  
  
"I just, hate it when people talk down about him. They don't really know him, and that's just not fair."  
  
"Yea I understand but, you also seem different. Please, Rory, tell me whats going on? I don't know if its something between you and Jess or something else about Brad…"  
  
Rory winced when her mother mentioned his name again. She hated that name.   
  
"No Mom. No Brad. Lets not talk about this now ok?"  
  
"NO Rory!" Lorelai exclaimed, "We ARE going to talk about this now! That's the whole point of this road trip, so you and I can get back to the way things were. Im not going to be to you what my mother was to me. Im going to give a damn, im going to try!"   
  
Rory was shocked by her mothers outburst.  
  
"Ok Mom… lets get going then." Rory said, barely above a whisper. She got up and with her eyes staring at the floor, walked back into her room and slowly shut the door. Lorelai stayed seated at the table and placed her head in her hands for a few minutes before the tears started rolling down her face.   
  
'I cant believe I just… yelled at her like that.' she thought. After a few minutes Lorelai wiped her eyes, got up and began walking upstairs to her room to grab her things.   
  
Lorelai and Rory meet downstairs at the doorway and gave each other half smiles, knowing things would be weird until they had a long discussion. Rory wanted to tell Lorelai about her and Jess just as much as Lorelai wanted to know about her and Jess. They packed there things in the jeep and then after locking up the house, got into the Jeep and sat there for a few minutes before Lorelai started the car.  
  
"I'm sorry for yelling at you in there…" Lorelai said, staring at the steering wheel.  
  
"Its ok Mom… but I do have to tell you something that I don't think your going to be to happy about."  
  
Lorelai perked up at the sound of this and looked at her daughter eagerly awaiting what she was about to say.  
  
"Its about Jess…"  
A/N - OK! That's where it ends… cliffhanger much? I don't know, I mean we all know what shes going to tell her Mom but her Mom doesn't know so maybe its just a cliffhanger for her Mom? Ok im babbling sorry! Please R&R because you guys (especially you JCtigerwolf4e!!!) are what keep me writing. Send in what you think should happen to - maybe I'll use your idea. Anyway, yea, please R&R and Ill love you forever - thank you!!!! 


	12. That Stupid Stove

Luke couldn't believe his eyes. The kid he had been following was none other than Brad. Not only was it Brad, but it was Brad walking to the Gilmore house. 'That kid has no idea what the hell he just got himself into…' Luke thought as he quickly and swiftly made his way toward Brad. By this time, Brad was almost at Rory's house and Luke broke into a run after him. There's no way this jackass is going to see Rory again…' thought Luke. Just then Brad stopped at the end of Rory's driveway and tilted his head sideways as if he was looking for something in the Gilmore's jeep. That's when Luke saw that Rory and Lorelai were in the car, obviously talking about something and getting ready to leave for there road trip. Luke was to busy looking at the Jeep to notice that Brad had glanced over and saw Luke running towards him.   
  
That was when Brad broke into a sprint, towards the jeep and Luke broke into an even faster run after Brad.  
  
"Get back here you psycho!!!" Luke yelled, "Lorelai! Rory! Lock your door!!"  
  
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Lorelai and Rory heard Luke and looked back to see what he was doing when they heard him yell to lock there doors. They had just done so when a loud bang came Rory's side of the jeep. It was Brad banging on her window.  
  
"Rory! Rory!! Its me, Brad! Please open your window, I love you Rory! You cant just ignore that, you know I love you and I know you love me! Rory please open your window!" Brad was yelling this and banging on her window profusely when all of a sudden, he disappeared. That's when Lorelai and Rory saw Luke.   
  
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Luke had seen Brad banging on Rory's window and the terrified look in her eyes, that's when Luke became enraged and decided he was going to let Brad have it.  
  
"…Rory please open your window!" Luke heard Brad yell, but that was the last thing he had gotten out before Luke grabbed his legs and pulled them out from underneath him, causing Brad to fall hard on the ground.  
  
"What the hell are you doing Luke?!" Brad screamed.  
  
"I'm giving you exactly what you deserve!!" Luke hollered back, then he proceeded to pick him up by his shirt and slam him against the jeep. "What the hell were you thinking when you hit Rory? Huh? Were you thinking, 'wow I must be a hard-ass because I can hit a girl?' was that it?! Do you have any idea what kind of mistake you made when the thought of hitting her even crossed your mind? DO YOU?" Luke slammed him even harder against the jeep, trying to force an answer out of him.  
  
"I love her! It was a mistake but I love her! I got help, ok? I got help!" Brad exclaimed, sounding like he was on the verge of tears.  
  
"Oh you got help? Well then…" Luke said calmly, placing him back down on the ground. "Why didn't you say that before?"  
  
"Because man, you never gave me a chance…" Brad said, brushing off his shoulders and shirt, and obviously trying to regain some of his dignity.  
  
"So… I guess now that your getting help that should just erase what you did to her?" Luke asked.  
  
"No not really but, It should help her to get over it you know?" Brad stated, thinking that Luke was converting to his side of the story.  
  
"Right. So what your saying is, you can hit someone but as long as you get help afterwards then its like nothing happened?"  
  
"Uh, yea I guess. Well not like NOTHING happened but she can stop making such a huge deal out of it."  
  
"Good."  
  
"Good?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
"Why good?"  
  
"Because now I can do this!" Luke punched Brad with all his might and sent him flying across the driveway. Brad was on the ground and Luke walked back up to him, "But I mean, as soon as this is over im going to get help and then everything will be better so you shouldn't worry!" Luke yelled, picking Brad up and punching him again. "Your and IDIOT for thinking Rory will EVER take you back!" Luke screamed at Brad, and kneed him in the stomach, causing Brad to double over in pain and fall to the ground. Luke was just about to throw another punch when Lorelai screamed at him not to.  
  
"Luke! Luke!!! Stop it! Please Luke!" Lorelai screeched. She had been yelling at Luke since he threw the first punch, but the adrenaline was so high that Luke couldn't even hear her. But then he did, and immediately stopped. He back up and looked at Brad, who was holding his stomach on the ground and had blood streaming down his face.   
  
'Oh my God, what did I do?' Luke thought. Then he looked back over at Lorelai, who was covering her nose and mouth with her two hands and staring at Brad in disbelief.  
  
"Oh God, Lorelai, I'm so sorry you had to see that. Are you Ok?" Luke walked over to Lorelai and she grabbed him and held on to him tightly.  
  
"Thank you…" she whispered in his ear.  
  
Luke smiled and replied, "Your welcome" he whispered back. "Ill be right back…" Luke said, making his way towards Brad.  
  
Luke picked him up and stood him upright. He got an inch away from his face and then said in his deepest, manly voice, "If you come - back I'll kill you." With that, Brad bolted away from the Luke and didn't look back once. Luke looked back over to where Lorelai had been but she wasn't there, she had walked over to Rory's side of the car and was comforting her.  
  
"Hey sweets, are you Ok?" Rory was crying and shaking, seeing Brad banging on the window and screaming had brought back memories - bad ones.  
  
"Yea, uh, yea Mom I'm… ok." Rory stuttered. She looked over and saw Luke standing behind Lorelai looking around sheepishly.   
  
"Excuse me Mom," Rory said, making her way out of the jeep. Lorelai had gotten out of her way and Rory ran to Luke and gave him a huge hug.   
  
"Luke thank you so much. You… you've always been there. Your like a Dad to me, and I cant even tell you how much what you just did means to me." She smiled and him and he smiled back, confirming that he felt like a Dad to her as well.  
  
"Well, uh, yea well I should probably go. I left Jess to watch the diner and God knows whats going on there now…" Luke stumbled to say, he was never good with words and never really knew what to say, "So, you guys have fun on your road trip and I'll watch the house for you."   
  
"Thank you so much Luke, we love you!" Lorelai said, which caused Luke to blush a little but he hid it well.  
  
"Yea, um, see you later." Luke began to walk back towards where he left Jess's car.  
  
'Dammit!' he thought, 'I forgot to get the part to that stupid stove…"  
A/N - So? You guys finally got the Luke/Brad ass kicking!! Hehe, that's probably the last time Brad will be around Stars Hollow or Rory anymore. Sorry for anyone who likes seeing Brad! Ok, I did my part now pppplease do yours and R&R! I love it when you do and it just pushes me to write more and more and (hopefully) better and better. Next chapter should be up sometime between today and Monday. Thanks guys! I love you all! 


	13. Nothing Left

Why Me? - 13  
Lorelai and Rory looked at each other, almost completely in shock after what just happened.   
  
"Didn't see that one coming…" Lorelai said, breaking the silence.  
  
"Yea…" Rory sighed, seeming pre-occupied with other thoughts. Lorelai made her way to the drivers seat and Rory got back into the passengers side, buckling her selt belt as Lorelai started the car.  
  
"So, are you gonna be Ok kiddo? That couldn't have been the best thing in the world for you to watch right now…"  
  
"I'm fine." Rory quickly replied.  
  
There was a pause. It was obvious Rory didn't want to talk about it, but it was just as obvious that Lorelai was dying to know what was going on inside Rory's head, what she was thinking, what made her love Brad when she had someone like Dean, and what made her go back to Brad after he first had hit her.  
  
"Ror, I don't mean to push but… what did you see in him that made you keep going back after the first time he… you know?"  
  
"After the first time he hit me? You can say it Mom, I don't mind."  
  
"Ok, after the first time he… hit you, what made you go back?"  
  
"Mom did you ever love Dad?"  
  
"Of course I did honey, I still do." Lorelai said, unsure of why Rory had asked her that question.  
  
"Well, I loved Brad. I'd do anything for him and he would do anything for me. After the first time I just figured 'hey, it happens' and tried to downplay the seriousness of the situation. I figured since he loved me, he'd figure out his mistake and it would never happen again. When it did - that's when I knew it probably wasn't going to stop."   
  
Rory paused and took in a deep breath. She hadn't had a conversation like this with her Mom in such a long time, it felt so good to be talking with her again. Hell, it felt good to be talking about it at all. She held it in for so long. Sure, everyone knew what happened and how and why but she never really got to express exactly how she felt and why she felt that way. But she was doing it now, and it felt good. She took another breath, relaxed a little, and continued.  
  
"I've heard stories, I'm not a helpless victim like everyone thinks I am. I know that its not something that goes away, and that its not something that can be very easily fixed. But I didn't want to stay with him and end up a battered housewife. I knew that's the road id be headed down if I had stayed with him, like I said, I'm not completely the victim here. Its partially my fault that he hit me again anyway…"  
  
"Rory don't even say that! Its never your fault, it never was and it never will be."   
  
"Well I don't mean I deserved it, but I knew in my head it was going to happen again. I just blocked it out and was to afraid to see it. I should have broken up with him after the first time but I didn't. And then we went so long without any problems that I figured hey, maybe it was an accident. But then when it happened again I knew it was over. I knew the relationship had nothing left."  
  
Lorelai looked at her daughter while she was explaining why she stayed with Brad. She couldn't help but notice how much her little girl had grown up to become a woman. She also couldn't help but notice how what had happened to her had jaded her, it made her afraid of certain people. Lorelai remembered how when she and Rory used to argue, how Rory would actually argue back. How, Rory would raise her voice as well and stand up for her point of view and debate it. But when Lorelai had yelled at her earlier, Rory sheepishly backed down and retreated to her room. Lorelai continued listening until Rory was finished.  
  
"I'm glad you left him. And I'm sorry for not noticing it earlier…" Lorelai said in an apologetic voice.  
  
"You couldn't have Mom, trust me I did everything in my power to hide it."  
  
"So… this is good. I'm glad were, you know, talking again." Lorelai said, smiling at her daughter.   
  
Rory looked at how happy her Mom was, simply because she was opening up to her. "I am to Mom. I really am."  
  
Lorelai realized they had been sitting there in the driveway the whole time they were talking and quickly threw the car into reverse, backing out of the driveway and onto the road.   
  
"Alright kiddo! Road trip time!" Lorelai said throwing the car back into drive and almost peeling out.  
  
"Yay!!" Rory exclaimed, then thought a minute, "Hey where are we going anyways?"  
  
"Oh honey its great, I rented out this little cabin up by Rye's Creek and its so beautiful. Your going to love it!"  
  
"Alright crazy woman, whatever you say." Rory teased.  
  
"Hey! That's no way to talk to your mother."  
  
Rory and Lorelai continued there banter, and Rory decided in her head that she hadn't laughed that much in a long time. Finally, things were getting back to normal. Her and her Mom and best friends again, Brad got one hell of an ass kicking, and her and Jess were together.   
  
'Oh no,' Rory thought, 'Jess! I got to tell Mom about Jess…'  
A/N - End of story… for now J Ok, someone (ILoveJess to be specific…) had said that they read a story similar to this early on and asked if it was mine. Yes - it was. It was called It Can Happen To Anyone and after having a few people proofread read it, I found out that making Jess the abuser was not only extremely out of character, but not a big crowd pleaser as well. Anywho - this might be the last chapter for a little while because I have A LOT of school work to do. Please R&R!!! Thank! 


	14. Do You Love Him?

Why Me? - 14  
"Mom?" Rory asked, keeping her eyes fixed on the road ahead of her.  
  
"Yea babe?"  
  
"Ok… that thing about Jess…"  
  
"Wait should I pull over for this one?" Lorelai said jokingly.  
  
"Maybe…" Rory stated seriously. Lorelai glanced over at her with a 'you've got to be kidding me' face.   
  
"Uh, maybe I should keep driving that way I don't get the sudden urge to turn this car around and possibly kill someone."   
  
"If you want."   
  
"I want."  
  
"Ok, well, I don't really know where to start."  
  
"From the beginning should be good."  
  
Lorelai's responses were quick and short. Not good. Rory was beginning to get nervous as she thought back to Jess and the previous night. It was amazing, she began to smile and started to feel not so worried. She was sure no matter what she and Jess would be together - even if her mother didn't approve.  
  
"Ok well.." Rory decided she should do it quickly, and hopefully, less painfully, " Jess and I are together."  
  
"Together?" Lorelai said sounding shocked.  
  
"Together."  
  
"You and Jess?"  
  
"Me and Jess."  
  
"Together??"  
  
"I think we covered that part."  
  
"As in boyfriend and girlfriend?"  
  
"Correct."  
  
"Wow." Lorelai sighed. It was obvious she was trying to take this all in. Rory wasn't sure what to say next, especially about the her and Jess sleeping together part. She was sure her Mom wouldn't take that well and she didn't exactly want to give her a heart attack.   
  
"Well…?" Rory said sheepishly, waiting desperately for Lorelai's response.  
  
"That's great."   
  
"Great?" Rory was completely baffled, how was this great? Well sure for her it was great but how could her Mom find it even remotely great?   
  
"Yea its great Ror! I mean, your moving on, and its good. I thought you were going to be to afraid to ever go out with anyone again, but your not and that's awesome. I kinda thought something was going on, after all you two have been spending an awful lot of time together."  
  
Rory smiled. 'More than you know…' she thought.   
  
"So! Details woman! When, where, how, why, I need details!" Lorelai asked excitedly.  
  
"Alright alright! Well, remember yesterday when I told you Jess and I kissed and you said blah, blah, blah, then 'were going on a road trip!'??"  
  
"Yea… glad to see you were listening."  
  
"Well that's the day we got together."  
  
"How? You were crying and you kicked him out… that doesn't sound like a very good start to your relationship."  
  
"I invited him over later that night, while you were sleeping."   
  
"Oh, wow that's definatly against the rules."  
  
"I know Mom and I'm sorry but when I called him to apologize, I told him about the road trip. He sounded upset about not being able to give me a proper goodbye, soooo I invited him over."  
  
Lorelai glanced over at her daughter. "A proper goodbye?"  
  
Rory figured now was as good a time as any to just let it out. Her Mom took the first part really, really well and hopefully she would do the same to what Rory was about to tell her.  
  
"Yea…"  
  
"Oh, so, what happened?"  
  
"Don't be mad Mom, please don't be mad."  
  
Lorelai took a deep breath in and out, and smiled over at her daughter. She knew what she was about to hear wouldn't be pretty.  
  
"I um, I wont."  
  
Rory hesitated. This was the biggest thing she and her Mom would ever share. 'Here goes nothing…' Rory thought.  
  
"We slept together."  
  
Lorelai slammed on the brakes and skidded over to the side of the road. They jolted to a halt.  
  
"What the hell are you doing!!" Rory exclaimed.  
  
"What the hell am I doing?! What the hell are YOU doing! You don't just sleep with someone Rory! What were you thinking?! You're supposed to love them and want to be with them forever and, oh my God, what if your pregnant Rory? How could you do this!" Lorelai screamed, almost on the verge of tears.  
  
"Mom you wanted to know and I told you and THIS is how you react! I did it because I wanted to, I can make my own choices you don't have to be there every damn second of my life to make my decisions!"  
  
Lorelai was shocked that Rory had yelled at her. She tried to take in that her daughter, her baby, her only child had actually had sex with someone. Then she thought a little harder, it seemed out of Rory's character to just have sex with someone. Especially someone she wasn't going out with for a long time. With Dean, it was different. Lorelai trusted him, and she had trusted Brad to, until she found out the truth about him. But Jess seemed to never care. Not about anyone, not about himself, and certainly not about Rory. That was it. This was Jess's fault. It was ALL Jess's fault.  
  
"Mom, say something."  
  
"That little bastard."  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"He took advantage of you! He knew that you were vulnerable and that you were in the dumps because of Brad and he just - took advantage like that! Oh my God, im going to kill him. I am GOING to kill him!" Lorelai banged the steering wheel causing Rory to jump. Lorelai looked over at her daughter who by this time had total terror in her eyes. She could see Rory's hand on the door handle, obviously getting ready to flee if necessary.  
  
"Oh geez Ror, I'm sorry I just…" Lorelai extended her hand to brush back Rory's hair as a sign of sympathy, but as soon as Lorelai lifted her hand Rory just as quickly unbuckled her seat belt and bolted out of the car, not even bothering to shut the door. Rory only got as far as the front of the Jeep before she realized what she was doing. She was running from her own Mom.   
  
She broke down into tears as Lorelai quickly hoped out of the Jeep and walked over to Rory. As soon as Lorelai got to the front of the jeep Rory grabbed her and held on to her tightly as if she would never let go. Rory cried on her mothers shoulder until she couldn't cry anymore. 'This will be the last time I ever cry over anything that has to do with Brad," Rory thought. After a little while, Rory and her Mom got back into the Jeep and made there way towards Rye's Creek where they both decided they would talk out the situation there. But Lorelai couldn't let one thing go, there was just one thing she had to know or else she would burst.  
  
"Do you love him?"  
  
Rory was caught off guard, "What?" she replied, a little confused.  
  
"Do you love him?"  
  
Rory answered, without any hesitation, "More than anything in the world."  
  
A/N - Ok I didn't really like this chapter because It was a little weird but, I'm almost positive that will be the last time Rory cry's over Brad/freaks out over Brad/talks a lot about Brad. I'm slowly trying to get him out of the picture. Anyway I know I said I wouldn't be updating in a while but I just had to do it, for all you who actually read this fic out there! Did I mention this one was my first? I might have somewhere… anyways thank you all so much for reading I truly do love you. Please R&R and ANY suggestions are MORE than welcome. Thanks!! 


	15. Breaking Plates

A/N - Ok I know I don't normally do these at the beginning of chapters (because I know how much I hate it…) but I just had to get this out ASAP. I really truly do want to thank all of you for reviewing, you have been SO nice to me and have made my day on more than one occasion. The more feedback I get, the more I try to write and keep you guys happy. Again, thank you so much you have no idea how much I appreciate it! Now, on with the show…  
Why Me? - 15  
  
"When Diner Men Go Bad!" Jess spontaneously shouted as he was clearing tables at the diner.  
  
"Shut up Jess." Luke said, sounding annoyed. Jess had been doing this to him ever since he got back from Lorelai's.  
  
"Wait wait, wait, I got a better one, 'Attack Of The Flannel Shirt Man'!!"  
  
"Jess…"  
  
"Then, out of nowhere, Flannel Shirt Man attacks the seemingly innocent boy! Mothers shield there child's eyes as all hell breaks loose! There's no stopping him, he's crazy!" Jess taunted Luke relentlessly throughout the day after he had found out about Luke kicking Brads ass. Although Jess didn't disapprove, it just gave him the perfect opportunity to make fun of him.  
  
"You know, you did it to!"  
  
"Yea but I'm her boyfriend, its allowed."  
  
"Her what?"  
  
"Her boyfriend - did psycho boy damage some part of your hearing during your little wrestling match?"  
  
"No I just, uh, didn't realize you to were together. How long?"  
  
"About a day." Jess casually replied.  
  
"Wow, congratulations. Took a little while."  
  
"Yup well, good things come to those who wait."   
  
Luke realized that this was probably the deepest conversation they have ever had and began to feel a little weird, as did Jess.  
  
"Um… so does Lorelai know?" Luke asked, trying to break the awful silence.  
  
"Not sure." Jess replied, not looking up from cleaning his tables.  
  
"Rory gonna tell her?"  
  
"Not sure."  
  
"Don't you think she has a right to know?"  
  
"Not sure." Jess looked him in the eyes when saying it that time, to point out the fact that he didn't want to talk about it and frankly, he really wasn't so sure about Rory telling Lorelai. 'That woman's gonna slaughter me if she finds out I slept with her daughter…' Jess thought. But then again it didn't really matter to him. Nothing Lorelai thought mattered to him, she was going to hate him no matter what he did, said, thought or felt and there wasn't much he could do to change that.  
  
Jess realized he'd been washing the same table for what seemed like forever and walked away behind the counter to get some new silverware for it. As he was grabbing the napkins and silverware, he noticed the phone. 'Maybe I should call Rory?' he thought. He walked over to the phone and put his hand it, then took it off. He repeated this twice then folded his arms on the counter in front of him and let his head fall in between. Just then the phone rang, causing him to jump back and directly into Luke who had a handful of dishes at the time.  
  
"Aw dammit Jess! Why the hell'd you do that for…" Luke sighed as he bent down to start picking up the broken dishes.  
  
"Oh, uh, my bad Luke, I'll help you out in a sec." Jess said, reaching for the phone.  
  
"Luke's Diner."  
  
"Hey."  
  
Jess' heart fell to the ground and a sly grin crept up on his face.  
  
"Hi."  
  
"Are you busy?" Rory asked.  
  
"No." Jess said, glancing over at Luke who was still picking up the broken plates by himself. He walked over to him and began helping clean up while still talking to Rory.  
  
"How's your trip? Are you there yet?"  
  
"Yea we made it in one piece, and so far so good."  
  
"Awesome, so, where's this mystery place? Is it far?"  
  
"Not really, I mean its out of the way but it's a place called Rye's Creek. Its beautiful here, I wonder how she found it."  
  
"Sounds great."  
  
"It is."  
  
"That's good… hey, I uh, told Luke… about us… was that Ok?" Jess wearily asked, he never really got the chance to discuss with her whether or not she had wanted there relationship out in the open. He hoped he hadn't made a mistake by telling him.  
  
"Oh," Rory replied, "that's fine! I told my Mom about us to…"  
  
"Your Mom? Damn, that was quick. How did she take it?"  
  
"Surprisingly well. She said how she was glad I had moved on, etc etc. But then I told her about us, um, 'being together'…"  
  
"Uh oh."  
  
"She didn't take that to well…"  
  
"Didn't think so."  
  
"She thinks your just using me. That, you knew I was vulnerable and that you took advantage of the situation."  
  
Jess abruptly stopped cleaning the floor when he heard this, and stood up.  
  
"She thinks WHAT?" He exclaimed.  
  
"Jess she's just, confused Ok? She had no idea what she's talking about. I mean, we haven't even really fully discussed it! When we were arguing I freaked out and we never really got to finish. I can change her mind, she just needs to hear the whole story. I promise."  
  
There was a pause, and the silence between them was deafening  
  
"Jess?"  
  
"Let me talk to her." Jess said, turning his back to Luke and leaning against the wall.  
  
"You want to talk to her?" Rory asked, surprised.  
  
"Yea I wanna talk to her." Jess repeated, but this time Luke over heard him.  
  
"Jess…Jess!!" Luke said, barely above a whisper so Rory couldn't hear him but still trying to get Jess' attention. Jess looked over his shoulder and saw Luke waving his hands in the air and shaking his head violently back and fourth.  
  
"Jess you do NOT want to talk to Lorelai right now! She's going to kill you! Don't do it, I'm warning you." Luke said, still barely above a whisper but trying to get his point across. Jess rolled his eyes at him and turned his head back around.  
  
"Rory, I want her to know I'm not in this just for…" Jess stopped himself quickly when he remembered Luke was still behind him. He dropped his tone to a whisper and continued, "sex."  
  
"But Jess I know your not - I think that's all that matters."  
  
"I know Ror, but just let me try…" Jess paused, "please?" he reluctantly added.  
  
"Fine." Rory handed the phone to her Mom.  
  
"Who is it sweets?"  
  
"Its um, for you." Rory said, half smiling. Lorelai looked at her daughter funny and quickly snatched the phone.  
  
"Your weird, you know that?"  
  
"Thank you Mommy!" Rory said skipping away, doing her best to impersonate a crazy person.  
  
While Rory gave the phone to Lorelai, Jess had gone back to finishing cleaning up with Luke. He was on his feet but balancing himself low to the ground, like a baseball catcher would. Luke went to throw some broken pieces in the garbage and accidentally brushed Jess as he walked by, causing one of his hand to fall right on a piece of glass, and cutting it deeply.  
  
"Son of a…!" Jess started.  
  
"Hello?" Lorelai said, in the middle of Jess's outburst.  
  
"Bitch!" Jess finished.  
  
"EXCUSE ME?!" Lorelai screeched, "Who the HELL do you think you are? You little bastard, I'm going to kill you when I get home. Don't EVER look at my daughter again you hear me? EVER! I cant believe you! No respect whatsoever!"  
  
"No! Lorelai wait! I wasn't talking to you, my hand, the glass, I fell!" Jess stumbled to get the words out but when he paused to take a breath all he heard was a dial tone. Lorelai had obviously hung up a while ago.   
  
"Shit!" Jess said to himself, and slammed the phone back on the hook.  
  
"I toooold you so!" Luke taunted, finding it hilarious that Jess had tried to talk to Lorelai. "She's a stubborn one."  
  
"Yea well the stubborn one thinks I just called her a bitch…"  
  
"Oh my God, did you?!"   
  
"No! She caught me right in the middle of saying son of a bitch… only all she heard was bitch."  
  
Luke immediately began cracking up when he heard this, and didn't stop.  
  
"Luke its not funny! Luke!" Jess was beginning to get aggravated.  
  
"Luke! Dammit, I hate you!"  
  
"Haha Haha! What are you gonna do Jess? I don't know if there's any recovery from that," Luke said still chuckling to himself.  
  
"Ugh, I don't know." Jess looked over at Luke who had a serious face on, but then quickly started cracking up again when Jess continued staring at him.  
  
"Man, your not helping at all! I hate this town!" Jess stomped upstairs and slammed the door.  
  
'That kid is something else' Luke thought, and went back to cleaning the floor.   
  
"Hello? Um, hello? Anyone back there?" Kirk called over the counter, startling Luke, who just like Jess, fell forward onto a piece of glass he hadn't seen.  
  
"Son of a…" Luke started as he was behind the counter, "bitch!" he finished as he was standing up.  
  
"That's no way to treat your customers!" Kirk exclaimed, "I'm outraged!"  
  
"No, Kirk I just fell onto a piece of glass, look!" Luke said, extending his hand. But Kirk was already half way out the door.   
  
"You've just lost my business you cranky old… diner man! Good day!" Kirk said, over exaggerating the situation.  
  
"But I didn't call you a bitch!" Luke yelled across the diner, everyone looked up.  
  
"Um, sorry, that was just a, uh, a misunderstanding!" Luke tried to explain, but the customers didn't care much for it and ignored him to continue eating.   
  
"Haha Haha! What are you gonna do Luke? I don't know if there's any recovery from that," Jess said smirking, he had heard the whole thing and was on his way out the door.  
  
"Where do you think your going?" Luke grunted.  
  
"Out!" Replied Jess, already out the door.  
  
'Man this town is so messed up…' Luke thought, then went back to taking care of the diner. 'So messed up.'  
  
A/N - Hehe, ok, this wasn't meant to be a serious chapter. Just a little Luke/Jess interaction with some humor. Did I do that well? I'm still new at this stuff so I'm not sure. Please R&R to let me know and I'll update as soon as I can! And also - I'm getting a little writers block. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! 


	16. Authors Note

Hey guys! Listen, I was reading through my story (you know, I forget some stuff that happens to… hehe) and I realized a HUGE mistake I made. In chapter 7, its called "Wants and Needs" and there is a crucial part missing to that story! I accidentally uploaded the wrong one, so I fixed it and it should clear up as to why Rory and Jess got together so quickly. Man I feel like such a goof for messing up like that, so please re-read it if you want, or just read the part I added. Its at the end, and its also the reason why I called the chapter what I did. Thanks and I'm really really sorry!  
  
-YesItsMe 


	17. An Unexpected Turn

Why Me? - 16  
It was Sunday night, and the Gilmore Girls had just finished packing all there things back into the jeep. Rory had called Jess later that day and he explained what had happened and Rory, in turn, explained it to her Mom. However, Lorelai didn't accept the story and used that reason to continue on hating Jess. The subject of sex never came up again that weekend and Rory knew the conversation was inevitably being saved for the trip home.  
  
"Get in the car or I'm leaving you here!" Lorelai jokingly yelled from inside the jeep towards the house.   
  
"Ill be out in a second Mom! Geez!" Rory walked outside and got halfway towards the jeep before she turned around and looked at the cabin. It was beautiful, tree's were everywhere and the creek was less than 15 feet away from the side of the house, which Rory found quite dangerous but decided to enjoy the vacation for what it was. Rory turned and made her way back towards the jeep and smiled at her Mom. The vacation had gone perfectly, they enjoyed each others company, watched movies, and got back to there old sarcastic and witty banter. But Rory knew this ride home would be filled with tension and awkwardness unless the sex subject was addressed as quickly as possible. She climbed into the jeep, shut the door and buckled her seat belt. They drove about a mile, in silence. Rory decided this was the time.  
  
"Mom, we need to finish what we started…" Rory stated.  
  
"This vacation was great honey, I'm so glad we did this together." Lorelai said, trying to change the subject.   
  
"Stop it Mom, we really do need to talk about this!" Rory said seriously. Lorelai glanced over at her, careful to avoid eye contact and sighed.  
  
"Fine." She stubbornly said.  
  
"Good, now, I want you to understand that Jess and I are in love. He's always been there for me, he makes me happy and I don't know where I would be without him."  
  
"What about me Ror? How do you think it makes me feel to realize that when my daughter needed me most, she turned to someone else because her own Mom couldn't make her feel better?"  
  
Rory looked down at her hands, she never thought about it that way.   
  
"How do you think it makes me feel to know that, someone I hate makes my daughter so incredibly happy? How do you think it makes me feel to know that my daughter couldn't share her most important secret with me because she didn't feel like she could talk to me about it? Huh? Its not fair Rory, I've ALWAYS been there for you, but I never feel like you want me there anymore!"  
  
"You know that's not true though! This weekend was incredible and we talked about everything except for Jess and sex. Why cant you accept that we are together? Why cant you be happy for me?"  
  
"Because," Lorelai sighed, looking defeated, "I'm scared."  
  
Rory looked back up at her Mom and tilted her head slightly sideways, wondering what her Mom had meant.  
  
"Scared?"  
  
"Yea Ror, scared. How am I supposed to know Jess wont pull a Brad and do something to hurt you? I know it probably wasn't easy for you to get to trust Jess but let me tell you something honey, I still don't know Jess that well and I cant trust him."  
  
Again, Rory was taken back. It looked like as much as Rory hadn't shared with Lorelai, Lorelai also hadn't shared with Rory.   
  
"Mom, don't be scared. Please don't be scared. You're the person I need to trust in me and tell me I'm making the right decisions. I still need you, just because I don't come to you for every single thing doesn't mean I don't want you around and don't want to talk to you. Yes- Jess and I had sex. Yes- I didn't talk to you about it before hand. I never realized that it might hurt you, I just… I didn't know what you'd do."  
  
"Ok…" Lorelai sat and thought for a minute as Rory stared at the floor, "Lets talk then."  
  
"About, sex?" Rory hopefully looked over at her Mom.  
  
"Yea" Lorelai smiled and looked over at Rory.  
  
"Mom, look out!!" Rory screamed. Lorelai shot her eyes back towards the road and jerked the wheel toward the left while slamming on her brakes. The tires screeched and they both screamed as a car ran a stop light and hit them on the left side, Rory's side, of the jeep. The jeep was pushed over onto its side and skidded across the road before sliding into the grass and flipping over once. That was all Rory remembered, then everything went black.  
  
A/N - Sorry for taking so long to update, and I'm also sorry its so short but I hope this cliffhanger of an ending makes up for it. I'm not going to give anything away about what happens next… just be ready for anything and everything. R&R and I'll be writing more soon! 


	18. Fourteen Hours Ago

A/N - This chapter is going to be a little different, Im going to tell it through Lorelai and Rory's points of view (but mostly Lorelai), tell me if you like it and I might do it again sometime. But please tell me also if you don't because I don't want to ruin the reading experience for you - thanks! P.S. - Rory isn't in a coma, just in a deep unconscious state, but they say unconscious people might be able to hear you. That's what I'm playing off of.  
  
Why Me? - 17  
Rory.  
I wanted to talk to her, to straighten things out, to tell her she means everything to me and how sorry I am that I treated her so badly while I was trying to figure things out, but I cant now. Because now, I'm laying here, in a hospital, with a tube down my throat and I cant say a damn thing. But I can hear. I can hear everything she's telling me. I can also hear the doctors saying they aren't sure when I'm going to wake up. I want to cry and I want to scream and I want to hug her but I cant. This is my fault anyway, I shouldn't have brought up the whole sex issue to begin with. I should have respected her space and waited for her to approach me about it. I guess there isn't anything I can do about it now. This is horrible, I just wish I could say something, anything, to make her understand that I'm going to be Ok. She's crying again, I hate it when she cries. But I'm glad she's ok. The doctors said that she was lucky, she was barely hurt because she was on the drivers side but since the car hit the passengers side, my side, it was 'inevitable that I would be severely hurt.'……  
  
Lorelai.  
I just wonder why It couldn't have been me. I would do anything right now to change places with her, anything in the world. Maybe if we had left when we were supposed to, and not early like we did? Leaving Monday morning seemed like a bad idea, and Sunday night just seemed better. How could this have happened? All she wanted to do was talk to me and I bitched and moaned and complained instead of just being grateful. I haven't left her side in the 14 hours we've been here, but I really want to call Luke. I don't know why, I mean, I could call my Mom or Sookie but… I really want Luke right now. And Jess, he's going to flip. The poor kid, he still thinks I hate him probably. First I need to stop crying, she's going to wake up, I'm positive, so crying isn't going to help out anyone. Ok… I really need to make some calls now.  
  
"Rory baby," I say, "I'm going to go and call Grandma and Luke and Jess and all those people, ok? I love you baby, I'll be right back…I love you." I kiss her on her cheek and get up, letting go of her hand, but I cant move my feet. I don't want to walk away from her, what if she wakes up? What if she says something, and I'm not here to hear it? God this is hard. Dammit I'm crying again. I grab her hand and sit back down, I cant go anywhere. But I want to. I cant stand sitting here, seeing her with tubes down her throat and needles in her arms. I need to call all of them though, they must be worried by now. I slowly let go of her hand and quickly get up and walk away…..  
  
Rory.  
Finally, she's going to call people. I want Jess so badly. I mean, I love my Mom and I'm so happy she is here but I want to hear his voice. I don't want him to cry, I'm tired of all the tears. Its only been 14 hours, I could wake up at anytime. I'm going to wake up, I have to. I'm alone for the first time now, it's a little scary. What if I don't wake up? What if this is it for me? I never got a chance to say goodbye to anyone, to Mom, to Jess, to my grandparents… I haven't talked to Dad in ages. I always saw his name on the Caller ID but I never picked up I just, ignored it. Now I might never have to chance to pick up. Or say goodbye, or anything……  
  
Lorelai.  
Ok, I should call Mom first because she's going to freak if I don't.  
  
"Excuse me, ma'am?" I say to the nurse, she looks at me with a 'what the hell do you want' face but I guess she sees I've been crying, or something because she changes it to a sympathy face.  
  
"Yes? Can I help you with something?"   
  
"Yea, I um, need a phone or a pay phone or something. Is there any around here?" Wow, I sound horrible.  
  
"Of course, follow me."  
  
We walk down the hallway and I wonder what Im going to say everyone. 'Well, we were talking about how she's having sex with her boyfriend of 3 days and then a car hit us,' just didn't sound to appropriate. I guess I can leave the whole sex part out. I wonder what happened to the other car though, probably nothing. That's the way it always is, the person causing the accident never gets hurt. Ok, that's not true but if he was drunk or something then that's usually what happens. I wish I could remember something from the accident. Anything would help, but, all I remember is waking up and finding out once I was Ok rushing to Rory's room. Rory, my poor baby……  
  
"Ma'am, here's a phone. Take your time." I smile at her and pick up the phone. Here it goes.  
  
"Mom? … Yea its me. … I need to tell you something. …. No, Rory and I were in an accident. …. Mom calm down, I'm fine. …. She's not. …. She hasn't woken up since the accident."   
  
She's crying. I hate hearing her cry, but I knew she was going to. If I knew then why does it bother me so much?  
  
"I'm still here Mom. …. Were at Rye Hospital, you can come down if you want. …. Ok I guess I'll see you in a little while then. …. I love you to. …. Bye."  
  
This was harder than I thought it would be. Luke's turn. I pick up the phone and dial but I have no idea what to say. God why isn't he answering his phone? I guess Ill try his cell… he never answers that damn thing. I replay things I can say over and over again but once he picks up, my mind goes blank.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Luke…"  
  
"Lorelai! Where have you been I called your cell phone a million times, Rory's to!"   
  
"Luke I have something to tell you."  
  
"Wait, Lorelai, I have to tell you something its really, really important."   
  
"Luke you don't understand, Rory was…"  
  
"Jess was in an accident."  
  
"What!?" There was no way, this couldn't be happening. Jess couldn't have been in an accident, this has all got to be a dream.   
  
"He was on his way to visit you guys, then he said he was changing his CD's in his CD player and wasn't paying attention, he hit the side of some SUV or something. That's all he can remember, he says. But he's awake and he's gonna be Ok - you need to tell Rory. That's all he's been asking about is Rory and if she knows and when she's getting home. He's got a concussion and broke his wrist but that's about it, he should be fine but they are gonna keep him overnight for observation. "  
  
"Luke, Rory and I were in an accident to."  
  
"What!? Jesus Christ are you guys ok? What happened?? When??"  
  
"I'm fine but, Rory… she hasn't woken up since the accident. I don't know when or if she's going to wake up. It was about, maybe 14 hours ago? Some guy ran a stop light and hit our Jeep on Rory's side…" I stop talking, and start crying. I cant think. My mind is going a million miles an hour and nothing seems to be making any sense. Why is all this happening?  
  
"Lorelai…" He barely said my name, "Jess got in an accident almost 14 hours ago…"  
  
Oh my God. It was Jess. Jess hit us.  
  
A/N - Another short one, hopefully a good plot twist I hope you all like it. Please tell me what you think. 


	19. Anything But Right

Why Me? - 18   
  
"Anything But Right"  
Lorelai slowly hung up the phone when she figured out that it was Jess who had hit them. She couldn't talk to Luke, not now. She might say something that she would regret later and right now she couldn't handle it. This wasn't the way things were supposed to turn out. They were supposed to go on a road trip, get things back to normal, come home and have everything be right again. But this wasn't right. This was anything but right.  
  
Lorelai sat down carefully while continuing to stare at the same spot on the floor. She couldn't just hang up on Luke, it wasn't his fault all of this happened. She decided to call him back when she heard a voice from behind her.  
  
"Lorelai!" Luke bellowed from down the hall, "Lorelai, are you Ok?"  
  
"Luke…" Lorelai whispered, she couldn't be mad at him. She was so happy to see him, when he got to her she wrapped her arms around him and cried into his shoulder. He, however, stayed strong and comforted her.  
  
"Wait, how did you get here so fast? How did you know where I was?"  
  
"This is the hospital they brought Jess to after the accident, I figured you guys were here to so I came looking." Luke looked at Lorelai and gave her a half smile. It was the best he could do, after all, he wasn't feeling to great either.  
  
For a second, Lorelai had forgotten about the whole situation. But now it was all rushing back. This was Jess's fault. Jess didn't pay attention, and Jess slammed his car into her jeep. Better yet, into her daughter. Luke was still holding her tightly when she began to back away.  
  
"What wrong Lor?" He sympathetically asked.  
  
"Jess…" She barely got out.  
  
"Lorelai," Luke said, remembering that Jess was the one who caused the accident, "I'm so sorry. I, he, Lorelai he didn't mean to. He would never do any of this on purpose. I'm so sorry…" Luke had arms extended out holding Lorelai's shoulders, but she was looking to the ground in disbelief. She backed away from his grasp and slowly looked up at him.  
  
"Don't let him near my daughter ever again." She simply stated.  
  
"Aw c'mon Lor, you know he didn't mean to, don't over react to this!"  
  
At that, Lorelai burst into rage and began to scream at Luke. And all in one breath, she exclaimed, "Over react? OVER react Luke?! My daughter hasn't woken up! My daughter might NEVER wake up because your punk ass nephew had to change a damn CD! He's crazy, he's uncontrollable, and he better never come near my daughter again! I swear to God I'm going to kill him if I ever see him! Luke don't make this any harder than it is, don't defend him, he almost… no wait, he could have, killed my daughter…" Lorelai broke down. This time harder than ever, she fell to the ground in sobs and Luke knelt down beside her, holding her.   
  
"Shhh Lorelai, its gonna be Ok. I promise, its gonna be Ok…" Luke rocked her back and fourth and she rested her head in his shoulder.  
  
*~~~~~*  
  
Jess had seen the whole thing. He made sure he was out of eyesight of both Lorelai, and Luke who thought Jess was still in bed. Jess saw Lorelai brake down and felt the guilt built up inside of him. 'I didn't mean to…' he thought. Jess decided he had to see Rory, even if only for a second. He knew he couldn't ask Lorelai permission to, or even Luke because they both would tell him no in a heartbeat. Just then, his chance came. Luke got Lorelai up off the floor, and Jess saw her talking to the nurse. He over heard there conversation, and it was established that Lorelai and Luke were going to the cafeteria to get coffee. Jess knew Lorelai wouldn't be able to be away from Rory to long, so he took the opportunity to go to Rory's room while Luke escorted Lorelai to the cafeteria.  
  
Jess walked in and saw Rory lying there, with all sorts of machines connected to her. He walked over and gently picked up her hand and kissed it. Then he sat down, still staring at her face. A nurse walked in, but he hadn't noticed until she said something and slightly startled him.  
  
"You can talk to her you know." The nurse said, changing an IV bag.  
  
"Why bother… its not like she can talk back." Jess said, softly brushing Rory's hair out of her face.  
  
"No but she can hear you, or that's what they say. Sometimes hearing familiar voices can help, you should give it a shot. It might make you feel better to." The nurse smiled and walked out of the room. Jess sighed. How could he have done this? If she never wakes up, its his fault.  
  
"Rory…" Jess whispered, "I'm so sorry." Jess paused, he though he might find it a little weird talking to someone who was unconscious, but strangely, it did make him feel better. He continued.  
  
"You can wake up now though. I'm fine, your Mom's fine, were all fine so now its your turn. Just, open your eyes." Jess paused and hoped that Rory would wake up on command. However, she didn't move.  
  
"Rory I was changing CD's, I wasn't looking where I was going… I didn't mean for this to happen I didn't want this!" Jess's head dropped and he began to cry uncontrollably. He squeezed her hand tighter and brought it to his face, rubbing the back of her hand on his cheek.  
  
"I love you, so, so, so, much…" Jess stumbled through his sobs and leaned his head against the railing of her bed, and continued to cry.  
  
*~~~~*  
  
Lorelai stood in the doorway, holding her coffee and leaning her head against the wall. When she first saw him there, her first instinct was to throw him out - literally. But before she could say anything, he began to cry. Then she heard him say it. Say how much he loved her, and how he didn't mean for this to happen. 'He really does care for her…' she thought. It amazed her, that it took a tragedy to believe her daughter. When Rory said that they loved each other, Lorelai just assumed that Jess had been saying I love you to get her into bed. Now things were different, if he didn't love her, why would he be here crying at her bedside?  
  
"Jess…" Lorelai quietly said while walking towards him. Jess jerked his head up and wiped his tears quickly, trying to hide the fact that he had been crying.   
  
"Lorelai, I…"  
  
"Its Ok Jess, you don't have to say anything."  
  
Jess looked down at his feet then back over at Rory. Lorelai noticed the hurt and pain in his eyes, and offered to let him stay there with Rory for as long as he wanted to.  
  
"Are you sure?" He sheepishly asked, hoping she wasn't playing some kind of cruel joke.  
  
"Yea, I'm sure." But she wasn't. She knew he didn't do it on purpose, and she knew he regretted every second of it, but he still did it. He still caused Rory to be this way. Lorelai walked over to Rory's right side, while Jess sat on her left side. They sat in silence for what seemed like forever, until someone opened the door.  
  
"Lorelai!" Emily exclaimed, walking at a fast pace into the room. Then she saw Rory and stopped dead in her tracks. She put her hand over her mouth and stepped backward.  
  
"Oh my God…" Emily's eyes shot around the room and then at Lorelai. "How did this happen?"  
  
"Well," Lorelai looked over at Jess who hadn't taken his eyes off of Rory since Emily came in, "this guy hit us and the jeep flipped."  
  
"Who hit you?! Did they find this man???"   
  
Lorelai looked down at her feet, now wasn't the time to start lying to her Mom. She couldn't cover up what happened, she deserved the truth.  
  
"Yea…" Lorelai whispered.  
  
"Who then? I will get the best lawyer and we are going to send him to jail! He wont get away with this."  
  
"Mom that's not such a good idea."   
  
"And why not?" Emily asked, confused.  
  
"Because it was Jess mom, Jess hit us."  
  
Emily's face turned to disbelief as she turned her head to look at Jess. Sympathy she once had for him as the boyfriend of a girl in an accident soon turned to rage for a man who almost killed her granddaughter.  
  
"You." She simply stated, looking directly at Jess.  
  
"You did this?"   
  
"It was an accident…"  
  
"An accident!!" Emily screeched, "This is sickening, why are you in here? Get out! Get out now!"  
  
"What's going on here?" Luke asked, walking into the room and feeling the tension.  
  
"Your nephew almost killed my daughter AND my grand daughter! Get him out of here now!" Emily demanded.  
  
"Your crazy, it was an accident the kid feels horrible about it! You cant just push him away he's hurting to!" Luke immediately got on the defense side, as he had always done for Jess.  
  
"Mom calm down…" Lorelai insisted, hoping for once her mother would listen.  
  
"I most certainly will not! If he doesn't get out of here I'm calling the police and don't think I wont."  
  
"Fine, we'll leave. But you cant keep me away from her forever." Jess angrily got up and quickly walked past Emily, eyeing her the whole way. Luke looked at Lorelai and she shook her head and shrugged her shoulders, as if to show she was sorry. He nodded to show he understood and walked out. Lorelai looked at her Mom who had made her way over to Rory.  
  
"Mom…"  
  
"Not now Lorelai… just leave me alone." Emily said, feeling the tears well up in her eyes.  
  
Lorelai slowly backed out of the room, and made her way towards Jess and Luke.   
  
A/N - Like? Dislike? THANK YOU all SO much for the reviews, they make me so happy. Since this one (in my opinion) was so long, there might not be another chapter for a few days. I get like that, I either write and write and write or I go through a dry spell and cant think of a damn thing to do. Anyways, please R&R! Love you all! 


	20. Just When Things Were Beginning To Look ...

Why Me? - 19

"Just When Things Were Beginning To Look Up"

*Disclaimer: I realized I've never put one in my writing anywhere, so here it is, everyone ready?? - I don't own Gilmore Girls.- Whew. Done.*

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

"Seriously, she's insane! What is wrong with that lady!" Jess walked down the hall at a fast pace, thinking only Luke was with him.

"Now you know where I get it from…" Lorelai said, sneaking up on the two of them.

"Oh, Lorelai, I didn't mean…" Jess stopped walking and started trying to explain his statement.

"I know, I think shes insane to." Lorelai said, smiling. They all continued walking, Luke leading the way back to Jess's room.

"Why aren't you in there with her?" Luke asked.

"She needs some time alone with Rory I think… and I need some time away. Not that I don't want to be there every second but its really hard." Luke noticed her eyes falling to the ground and decided to change the subject, hoping to cheer everyone up.

"Yea… well Jess, looks like you don't have to go to school tomorrow," Luke glanced down at his watch, it was early Monday morning now, "er, today. Just what you wanted!" Luke said enthusiastically, but Jess didn't buy it.

"Yea, If I had known these were gonna be the terms for me not to go…" Jess didn't finish. He didn't have to. Luke looked at Lorelai, hoping she would help out but she seemed just as dazed and out of it. 

"Hey Jess, uh, I'm gonna take Lorelai down to the, um, the cafeteria. Want anything?" Luke asked as they made there way into Jess's room.

"No." Jess mumbled, plopping down on the bed. Luke grabbed Lorelai's arm and took her out of the room.

"What are you doing?" She asked, confused.

"I figured the kid needed some time alone. I've been there with him twenty four seven, he's getting sick of me." Lorelai smiled and while they continued walking, she entwined her arm with Luke's and leaned her head against his shoulder. At first Luke was unsure of what to do or how to react, but then relaxed and continued walking as if she wasn't clinging on to him.

"So where are we really going?" She asked, since they had been to the cafeteria not to long ago she figured they weren't going back and Luke was just trying to find a way to get out of there.

"The cafeteria…" Luke said as if she should have known.

"Oh," Lorelai said sounding dumbfounded, "I just figured it was a way to get us out of there."

They walked a few seconds then Lorelai suddenly stopped.

"Oh my God!" She screeched.

"What?! What is it!!" Luke said, sounding panicked.

"I haven't called Chris yet!!"

Luke let out a huge sigh of relief and glared at her. "Now that was totally unnecessary… you just scared the hell out of me."

Lorelai smirked, "Ill be right back, I think I need to do this alone. But when I come back, will you go to Rory's room with me?" Luke nodded and watched her walk away. She was so beautiful to him, and it amazed him how well she was holding up now considering she just broke down not to long ago. He watched her pick up the phone and dial Chris's number. He frowned at the thought, but then quickly smiled. 'She called me before him…' he thought.

*~~*

Lorelai paced back and fourth with the phone in her hand, but quickly got yanked back by the phones cord when she went to far.

"This is a hospital, they charge you up the ass for everything and they cant afford cordless phones?!" Lorelai angrily whispered to herself. 'Pick up, pick up, pick up…' She thought as the phone rang. But no answer.

"Hey, you've reached Christopher Hayden, I'm to busy to answer my phone right now but if you leave a message I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks." Beeeeep. Lorelai paused and debated in her mind. 'Should I leave a message?' 'No, that's informal.' 'Yea but I cant get a hold of him.' 'But if you don't he's gonna think you thought it was a mistake to call in the first place!' 'SAY something!'

"Chris, its um, me… Lorelai. Listen, Rory and I were in an accident. I'm fine, but Rory's not. You don't have to call me back, there is really no way you could reach me. My cell phone is gone, but anyway, if you could get down to Rye's Hospital as soon as possible that would be great. Um, I don't know directions but I'm sure you could find some. Anyway, I'll talk to you soon, hopefully. Bye." Lorelai hung up. 'Dammit!' she thought. This wasn't the way she wanted him to find out. She sighed and made her way towards Luke.

"How'd he take it?" Luke sympathetically asked.

"Wasn't there."

"Who were you talking to then?"

"The answering machine."

"Oh…" Luke nodded and there was an awkward pause.

"So, Rory's room now?" Luke looked down and Lorelai and she nodded. He took a deep breath and put his arm around her shoulder. She shuttered. He felt it, and was about to put his arm down when she nestled her head into his chest and they continued walking. He quietly sighed with relief and held on to her tightly. She smiled, but he couldn't see it. He smiled, but she couldn't see it. They both felt it.

"Thank you…" Lorelai whispered. Luke squeezed her shoulder and put his chin on top of her head to show he understood and to say thank you as well. They made there way to Rory's room and quietly walked in.

"Lorelai!" Emily screeched, Lorelai and Luke quickly pulled away as Emily stood up to 'greet' them.

"Where have you been!? Your daughters lying here, unconscious and could wake up any minute and you decided to chase your boyfriend around?!" 

"Mom! I thought you wanted some time alone with her," Lorelai started, "and Luke and I aren't… like that." She quietly finished. 

"Well Lorelai your just full of excuses aren't you?"

"Sure Mom…" Lorelai agreed, she didn't want to start an argument with her mother. Not here, not now. 

"Wait a sec, where's Dad?" Lorelai asked, looking around the room.

"On business." Emily said, making her way back towards Rory.

"Well, did you bother to call him?"

"I haven't had the time just yet!" Emily said defensively.

"Fine Mom, just asking." Lorelai glanced at Luke who was staying as far away from Emily as humanly possible, not wanting any of her wrath. She tilted her head, signaling for him to come over to her and he did. With Luke beside her, Lorelai sudden felt better and more in control. 

"Mom."

"What is it now Lorelai?"

"Go call Dad, Luke and I are here and if she wakes up we will get you the second she does."

Emily looked up at Lorelai, the pain and worry evident in her eyes and Lorelai gave her a weak smile.

"Ok then…" Emily said, trying to regain herself. "I'll be back in a couple minutes." Emily grabbed her purse and walked out as Lorelai sat down in the chair previously occupied by Emily.

"Finally…" Lorelai sighed. She looked up at Luke who was intently staring at Rory, and watched his face turn pale.

"Luke," she whispered, "she's going to be fine." Luke looked over at her and she could see his eyes begin to water. He saw that she noticed and quickly thought of a reason to leave.

"I'm uh, gonna go get Jess now…," Luke said, quickly making his way out of the room, "because you know, this may be the last time he'll get to see her since, I'm thinking Emily's gonna be here a lot."

"Ok" Lorelai quickly agreed, acting like she had noticed nothing.

After a few minutes, Luke had returned with Jess who was obviously anxious to see Rory. They all crowded around Rory and sat down. There was a long silence when Jess had finally said something.

"So what now." He somberly asked, still staring at Rory.

"What do you mean?" Lorelai said, looking at Jess confused.

"Do we just sit here and do nothing?"

"There's nothing we can do." Luke said, looking over at Jess as well. Then he suddenly noticed Jess become as white as a ghost and looked at Lorelai who obviously had noticed to.

"Jess, what's wrong?" "Are you ok?" They both asked.

He slowly pointed at Rory and Lorelai looked at her. She covered her hands with her mouth and tears began streaming down her face.

"Rory, baby, Rory!" Lorelai exclaimed, keeping one hand over her mouth and the other touching Rory's face all over.

Rory's eyes glanced around, looking terrified and confused. She tried to speak, but couldn't get anything out. The tube was still down her throat and she has no idea where she was. 

"Nurse!" Luke screamed, making his way to the hallway to find one. Luckily, one was on her way in when Luke almost ran into her. 

"She woke up! She woke up!" He proclaimed to her, pointing at Rory to show his proof. She quickly walked over to Rory and asked her a few questions.

"Just get the tube out of her throat I want to hear her talk, I need to talk to her…" Lorelai exclaimed, hardly being able to catch her breath.

"Ma'am, we need to talk outside and I'll page the doctor to come extibate her." The nurse said, gently grabbing Lorelai's arm to lead her out.

"No! I'm staying! I'm not leaving my daughter, she just woke up and I'm not going anywhere!" She protested, and crossed her arms to show she wasn't going anywhere.

"Ma'am if you don't come with me I will not page the doctor to remove the tube." The nurse stated just at firmly. Lorelai sighed and leaned down to Rory.

"Ill be right back baby, I love you so much, I'm just going to be outside Ok?" Rory slightly nodded as if she wasn't sure what was going on and Lorelai kissed her and walked out.

"What so important?" Lorelai asked getting impatient.

"I think its important to know that your daughter might have memory loss and some other changes…" Lorelai felt her heart stop. Memory loss. What hadn't she told her this before? The nurse continued speaking but Lorelai had blocked her out. What if she couldn't remember her? What if Rory didn't remember anyone? Lorelai shook her head. 'No,' she thought, 'she'll remember.' "… and that's something you should be aware of." The nurse finished.

"Um, yea sure…" Lorelai said, dazed.

"Everything Ok?" Luke asked, walking out and seeing Lorelai visible upset.

"Rory might have memory loss…" Lorelai managed to get out without crying. "We won't know until the tube comes out and she gets to talk."

"Oh Lorelai…" Luke started, but then the doctor walked past the two of them and into the room. Lorelai quickly followed him and Luke followed Lorelai.

"Hello," the doctor said to Jess, not knowing Lorelai and Luke were behind him. "Are you… Lorelai Gilmore?" He asked, looking at Jess weirdly.

"No," Jess pointed toward Lorelai, "that's her."

The doctor turned around and saw that Lorelai was right behind him. He extended his hand and she shook at nervously. 

"Now, Mrs. Gilmore, we are going to take the tube out of her throat. She wont be able to talk very well, she will probably have to whisper. She will also cough a lot at first. And your aware of the possible memory loss, changes and overall outcome?" Lorelai nodded. Jess almost fell over.

"Memory loss?" He said loudly, everyone turned toward him.

"Yes son, your sister…"

"Girlfriend." Jess quickly interrupted.

"…sorry, girlfriend, might experience temporary or long term memory loss. We wont be sure until we talk to her." Jess nodded and sat down. He couldn't take this, this was just to much. The doctor walked behind Rory and explained to her that it might be uncomfortable, etc. And also told the three of them that they needed to back up and give Rory her space. Lorelai held on to Luke, who had his arms wrapped protectively around her. Jess was still sitting down beside her, but pushed his chair back a little bit. As he pulled the tube out of Rory's throat, Lorelai sunk her head into Luke's chest and he squeezed her even tighter. 

Rory began coughing and swallowing hard. Her eyes sprinted around the room and she looked quickly from side to side, up and down. Then, she looked over at Lorelai, Luke, and Jess.

"Where am I?"

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

*A/N- PLEASE review. I love writing, but I haven't been getting very many reviews lately and those are the only things keeping me writing. Long ones are the best, hint hint (Hehe). Anyways, please tell me whether or not you like this chapter and any suggestions are appreciated. I've started the L/L action, I hope you guys like that to. BTW, nice cliffhanger, eh?


	21. Odd One Out

Why Me? - 20  
  
"Odd One Out"  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
Lorelai immediately grabbed hold of Rory's hand and knelt down to her level.  
  
Sweetly and quietly, Lorelai gently talked to Rory. "Hey baby, your at the hospital."  
  
"Oh…" Rory squinted her eyes, trying to re-adjust to the light and saw the lady kneeling down beside her. She had obviously been crying and Rory sensed the care and pure worry in her eyes. Then she remembered.  
  
"Mom?"  
  
Lorelai let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding and a single tear streamed down her face. "Yea baby, Mommy's here. How are you feeling?" Rory groaned and tried to move, "Ow!" she yelped. Lorelai's fear stricken face looked at Rory's doctor and he nodded, letting her know this was normal.   
  
"Don't move baby, just relax Ok?" Rory nodded and then noticed the two men standing up.  
  
"Luke." Rory almost whispered, and he smiled at her.   
  
"Hey Ror, how you feeling?"  
  
"Could be better…" Rory faintly replied. Lorelai smiled. Thank God, she had her daughter back. It was the best sensation ever and Lorelai held back tears to try and be strong for Rory. Rory then turned her attention to the young, but handsome man beside Luke. No, not a man just yet, but a teenager. His black hair and stunning eyes seemed to remind her of someone, but she couldn't remember who. She thought hard but still, nothing came to mind. He was staring back at her with the same intensity and when she realized it, she quickly looked away. But there was something about him that was comforting, that made her feel good and safe.  
  
Rory pointed to Jess and whispered, "Mom, who is that?"   
  
"Um, that's Jess baby… your boyfriend. You," Lorelai paused and took a deep breath in, "don't remember?"  
  
"No…" Lorelai's eyes shot back up at the doctor and he motioned for her to walk outside with him. She kissed Rory and asked Luke and Jess to come along as well. But Jess was frozen where he stood. He stared at her like she was the only thing left in the world, and loved her the same way. It was like he was in a movie, a dream, and this would all go away and everything would be back to normal soon. "Jess…" Luke nudged him, and he suddenly was flung back into reality.   
  
"C'mon," Luke said, "the doctor wants to talk to us." Jess stumbled sideways and slowly made his way out of the room, hoping the doctor would bring good news.   
  
"Mrs. Gilmore, it seems that unfortunately your daughter has suffered some short term memory loss. The good thing about that is, she can remember people she has known either all her life or almost all her life. The people she has recently come into contact with, for say, the past couple years or so she might not remember. Bringing her back to where you live could help those memories come back though. She just needs to be reminded of who she is, and in most cases that's all it takes and memories will come back."  
  
"So, besides that, there is really nothing we can do for the people she forg…," Lorelai paused, remembering Jess was standing right there and probably didn't want to be known as 'forgotten', "um, can't remember right now?" Lorelai wearily asked, knowing she probably already knew the answer.  
  
"Unfortunately, no." The doctor turned to Jess, "I'm sorry about all of this. Spend as much time with her as you can. Since she wasn't out that long, there is a much greater chance of her memory coming back."  
  
Jess sighed and shook the doctors hand, "Thank you." Jess made his way back in the room and Luke began to follow, but Lorelai held his arm.  
  
"Luke…"   
  
"What?"  
  
"Let him be alone for now."  
  
Luke turned around to face Lorelai and after giving it a quick thought, nodded. She sat down in a chair outside the room and sighed.   
  
"Wow."   
  
"Yea."  
  
There was a pause and Luke looked like he was just about to say something when Lorelai interrupted him.  
  
"Oh my God! I forgot to get my Mom!" Lorelai exclaimed as she jumped up from her chair. "Quick quick let me borrow your cell phone!"  
  
Luke quickly got out his cell and handed it to Lorelai who snatched it and immediately began dialing.  
  
"Mom! She's awake!" …. "Um, just now!" …. "Yea they had to take the tube out of her throat and everything."…. "A little, she cant remember Jess but I think that's the only person she's going to be forgetting since she's known almost everyone else the rest of her life." …. "Ok, hurry though! Love you, bye."  
  
Lorelai hung up the phone and plopped down on the chair again. She slammed her head on the back of the wall and shook it from side to side.  
  
"This is just to much Luke. I'm so happy Rory's back but this is going to be a long haul. What about Chilton and Yale and, even this weekend! We had such a breakthrough and for what? Nothing." Luke looked at her but couldn't find the right thing to say. "At least she's Ok…" he offered, trying to make her feel better. She smiled. "Yea, she's going to ok."  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
"Hi," Jess said, walking beside Rory, "I'm Jess." He stuck out his hand and Rory shook it. He figured if she didn't remember him, that she was going to get to know him again as soon as possible.  
  
"I'm Rory."  
  
"I know."  
  
"Oh… so, you're my boyfriend?" Rory's questions mean no harm, but they killed him inside. 'Wow, she really doesn't remember…' he thought.   
  
"Yea, I am."  
  
Rory looked away from him and at the needles in her arms and machines she was still hooked up to. She was very awake by now and besides a headache, she felt fine.  
  
"You think they'd just take these things out by now…" she said, obviously trying to change the subject. But Jess wouldn't have it, he continued saying what was on his mind.  
  
"You remember the accident?"   
  
"Um…no actually. Do you know what happened?" Rory looked at Jess's wrist, which was still in a cast and made a confused face, "Were you in it to?"  
  
Jess didn't want to tell Rory he had caused all this. He didn't want her to hate him, and this would obviously be bad first impression but he couldn't lie to her.   
  
"Yea, I was." He knew he wasn't telling the whole truth but, hell, he didn't lie. He just… forgot to mention some stuff.  
  
"Oh, so, what happened then? Everyone's kinda been keeping me in the dark." Rory's eyes were pleading for answers that his mouth knew. He shifted uncomfortable and found a seat to sit down in. It wasn't to close to Rory, but it wasn't far either.  
  
"Well, you and your Mom were driving home from a weekend away and a car ran a stop light and hit you guys. He hit you on your side, so you got the brunt of the hit and your Mom didn't. Man Ror, you have no idea what kinda wreck she was in while you were out. It was… really upsetting."  
  
"Wait you said 'he' hit us, do they know who did it?"   
  
Jess sighed, 'Damn! Just tell her!' he thought. "Yea, actually it was um… me." Rory looked at him as if he were crazy and then got an expression of fear on her face.  
  
"Why would you do that… were we arguing or something? Are you insane??" She was obviously getting scared and he quickly replied, trying to fix the situation.  
  
"No! It was an accident, like I said he, well I, ran a stop light. I came to visit you guys but you had left a night early. I was changing a CD and not paying attention. Then I hit you guys. Rory I'm so sorry you know I never meant for this to happen." His eyes were begging for forgiveness and Rory saw that. Her expression went from a fear stricken one to a sympathetic one. She could tell he didn't mean to, and those eyes… they melted her. This was obviously her boyfriend, maybe she had forgotten but there is no way she could feel this way about a friend.  
  
"I know, it's Ok I mean, if my Moms fine and now I'm fine then everything's ok."  
  
Jess had a million things to say, but only one stuck out in his mind.  
  
"Rory?"  
  
"Yea?"  
  
"I just want you to know, I lov…" Jess was cut short when two people walked in and yelled Rory's name.  
  
"Grandma! DAD!" Rory exclaimed, it seemed as thought she had completely forgotten Jess was there as she hugged them and he slowly back out of the room.  
  
Rory reconciled with her Dad and Grandma, and before long her Grandpa was in there as well. Jess watched from the doorway as Lorelai, Luke, Chris, Emily and Richard crowded around Rory. He was so happy for her, but nothing could surpass the pain he was feeling that the love of his life had completely forgotten him. Jess walked out of the room completely and began a fast pace down the hallway. He made his way outside and sat down on a nearby bench. There was nothing he could do now, he was the only one she didn't remember. And even if he wasn't, it sure seemed like it.   
  
Jess swung his feet up on the bench and laid down, it was still dark out. He wasn't sure what time it was but he knew it was early as hell on a Monday. He laid there and began to think about how he hadn't felt this alone, this left out since he first came to Stars Hollow. But now, he was the odd one out again - and it killed him.  
  
A/N - Sometimes I surprise myself with the way things turn out. I just start writing and whatever comes out comes out! I hope you all like it and please R&R. The next chapter will be set sometime in the very near future. If you have any suggestions feel free to send them in, thank you so much! 


	22. Authors Note 2

Hey, ok, I decided to make a mailing list to E-Mail everyone who is interested when I update. If you want to be a part of this, just send in a review with your E-Mail address in it and a request to be E-Mailed every time I update. Well, I guess that's all I have to say except please continue to R&R my story because you guys rock!! Hehe, thank you!!  
  
-YesItsMe 


	23. Tell Me You Felt That

Why Me? - 21  
  
"Tell Me You Felt That"  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own, or make money from, this fan-fic and Gilmore Girls belongs to Amy. (Yes, we are on a first name basis :-p)  
  
***Previously, in Why Me?: Rory has a boyfriend who abuses her. She breaks up with him, but the long lasting affects on Rory are to much for Lorelai to handle. Meanwhile, Rory and Jess become much closer, seeing as though he is the only one who she feels she can talk to. Lorelai decides to take Rory on a road trip to try and 'get things back the way they were.' Rory doesn't have a say in the matter, but invites Jess over late that night to say goodbye. They end up having sex (not as corny/bad as it sounds) and the next day Lorelai and Rory leave. Rory tells Lorelai, who freaks. The subject is avoided the whole time they are away until the ride home, when Rory begs her Mom to talk to her about it. Finally, when Lorelai agrees, there's an accident. The twist being that Jess is the one who hit them, since he came to visit the night before they left, and they left a night early. Lorelai and Jess are Ok, but Rory is in an unconscious state, and is intubated (having a machine breathing for her). Jess is taken to the same hospital, as Lorelai and Rory. Later, Rory wakes up and has the tube removed from her throat, but the first words out of her mouth are "Where Am I?" This is after Lorelai is told that Rory might suffer from possible long or short term memory loss. Lorelai tells her where she is, and Rory recognizes her almost immediately. As well as Luke, but she cannot seem to recognize Jess. Before they have a chance to talk about it, Emily and Christopher barge in and steal Rory's attention away from Jess. He leaves hurt.***  
  
I thought it was about time for one of those recaps. On to the story!  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
Jess was lying comfortably on the bridge in the bright sunshine of a Saturday afternoon. His hands were behind his head, and one leg was crossed over the other. His eyes were closed, and his breathing only slightly noticeable when his chest slowly moved up and down. He had been there a lot lately, since the accident. It was the only place he could go where he wasn't getting all the awkward stares from Stars Hollow's residents, wondering what he must feel like now that Rory couldn't remember him, and wondering how he could live with himself knowing that he caused it all. It was still hard for him, and he wasn't sure there would ever be a time where it wouldn't be hard for him. Jess heard footsteps and slightly opened one eye, turning his head to see who was coming over.  
  
"Hey," she said, but it was an awful hey. It was the kind of hey she used to greet strangers. He quickly got up and faced Rory.  
  
"Uh, hey," he said awkwardly, putting his hands in his pockets and somewhat avoiding eye contact.  
  
"You come to this bridge a lot?" She innocently asked. He looked at her as though she just asked possibly the most stupid question in the world, and then he remembered, she didn't know him.   
  
"Yea… so do you." He stated matter-of-factly.  
  
"Oh, I didn't think anyone else would be here…" she started.  
  
"Its fine, I was just about to go anyway." Jess interrupted, he started to walk away and Rory just watched him until he got to the beginning of the bridge.  
  
"Wait," she yelled towards him, "will you stay with me?" Jess paused in his tracks and tried to digest what he just heard. His first instinct was to turn around immediately and go back. But then again, being with her hurt to much. She couldn't remember him, and he loved her. It was hard to be near her without wanting to hold her, kiss her, touch her face. Jess turned around and faced Rory, who had a pleading look on her face. He began to slowly walk back and took his hands out of his pockets.   
  
"Thanks." She whispered. They both sat down and their feet dangled over the edge, Rory kicking hers back and fourth while Jess's stayed motionless.  
  
"So…" she started, "we were dating?"  
  
"Yea." Jess quickly replied.  
  
"Oh…"  
  
There was a pause and they didn't say anything to each other in what seemed like forever. He looked at her face, and then remembered what the doctor had said. About, how, bringing up things of the past might help her to remember anything she forgot.   
  
"So, how much as your Mom told you about everything?" He asked, wondering if Lorelai had filled in Rory about the relationship between her and Jess.  
  
"Nothing really, I mean, if it was about you she'd always tell me to ask you about it. And I guess besides that there wasn't anything really to know about… right?" She looked at him and this time he couldn't avoid her gaze. 'Wasn't anything really to know about?' he thought, 'what about me, about Brad, about everything!' He held his tongue and decided it would be best not to bring up Brad, Lorelai could tackle that one. He did, however, want to tell her everything he possibly could about there relationship.  
  
"Uh, right…" he stuttered, "nothing else really."  
  
Rory nodded her head and looked at the water again. "Jess, I…" Rory started but was never able to finish. Jess grabbed her face and pulled her into a deep, passionate kiss. At first, her instincts told her to pull away and wonder what the hell this stranger was doing kissing her. But she couldn't, not that it was physically impossible but, she didn't want to, something held her there. He slowly pulled away, her face still in his hands.  
  
"Tell me you felt that." He whispered.  
  
She took in a deep breath, and sighed, not being able to believe what just happened. "I did." She whispered back.  
  
"That's why we were together," He dropped his hands to his sides and faced the water again, "there's always been something between us that I couldn't explain. When I first got here, nobody gave me half a chance but you. Not Luke, not even your Mom. But you did, and I had a crush on you ever since day one. We only started going out last week, but it was great Rory. You were great, I was happy, I mean we had everything going for us. Then I screwed it up." Jess's voice began to trail off and Rory quickly stepped in.   
  
"No you didn't Jess. You didn't screw it up, what happened wasn't your fault. You didn't know you were going to hit us, you didn't know this was going to happen." She took hold of his hand and entwined her fingers with his.   
  
"We can start over Jess, I want to try to get things as back to normal as possible. Maybe after a little while I'll start remembering?"  
  
Jess nodded and squeezed her hand.  
  
"You wanna go for a walk or something? Maybe If I show you around it'll help you to remember?"   
  
Rory smiled and they both got up.   
  
"Yea," she said, "Id like that."  
  
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A/N - I'm soooooo sorry about the delay and the REALLY short chapter! I haven't had much time lately with it being towards the end of school and exams and all. But I really will try harder, and please send in those reviews because they keep me nice and motivated. Thanks! 


	24. Dear Diary

Rory walked into her room and collapsed on her bed. She smiled and looked over at the clock, it was 8pm. 'We were out for 8 hours!' Rory thought, then shook her head and quickly got up off the bed.  
  
"Mooooom!" Rory yelled upstairs.  
  
"Yessum?" Lorelai yelled back.  
  
"I'm home!"  
  
"Ok! I'll be down in just a sec… Ow!"   
  
Rory could hear Lorelai stumbling to put on her shoes and went to the kitchen to sit down. She had decided she wanted to ask her Mom everything that had happened to past couple of years, the stuff she couldn't remember. She had wanted to know since she came home, but couldn't get around to asking her Mom, fearing it would upset her. Just then, Lorelai finally made it downstairs and made her way towards the kitchen.  
  
"Hey sweetie," Lorelai said kissing her head, "where were you this whole time? Lanes?"  
  
"With Jess!" Rory said excitedly.  
  
"Oh." Lorelai paused and looked at Rory, "What were you guys doing?"  
  
"We walked around town and he showed me every store, every corner, every place that we had memories in. He named them all and how they reminded him of me and stuff we did there…"  
  
"Stuff you did there? Dirty." Lorelai smirked.  
  
"Mom not like that! Geez." Rory blushed and looked at her hands that were folded in her lap. "There's just one thing I was to afraid to ask him…" Rory said, still staring at her hands.  
  
'Uh oh.' Lorelai thought, 'here comes the question…'  
  
"I wanted to ask him why we only started going out a week ago. I mean, he told me he'd had a crush on me since he first got here a year and a half ago. So, why did we wait so long? Was it me? Did he have a girlfriend, or did I have a boyfriend? I mean, I remember Dean but I also remember me and Dean broke up a long time ago." Rory paused and looked at her Mom, "Was there someone else?"  
  
Lorelai hadn't expected that question. She was expecting Rory to ask her how far they had gone while they had been going out, or the things they used to do together, or something simpler than this. Lorelai sighed and took a seat next to Rory.  
  
"Listen, Ror, there was someone else. His name was Brad." Lorelai stopped and looked at Rory hoping that she would just remember him and save Lorelai the pain of having to explain what happened to her. But Rory's face showed no expression of familiarity.  
  
"Ok… Brad who?"   
  
"Ror, maybe we should save this conversation for later. I told Sookie I'd go to her house to help her redecorate her living room. You should come with us, it'll be fun!"  
  
"No Mom, why are you being so evasive? What's the deal with this guy? Just tell me."  
  
"Honey, its not that simple. See, you and Brad went out for a very long time. A year and 2 months to be exact." Lorelai said the last part with hatred in her voice. But Rory didn't pick up on it.  
  
"Wow that's a really long time, what happened? I bet he cheated on me. Oh no, wait, I cheated on him didn't I! With Jess! Oh my God!" Rory began to panic, thinking about what a horrible person she was for doing this to so-called 'Brad'.   
  
"No honey no that didn't happen! Ugh, Ror, please can we save this conversation for later? I promise you when I have more time we will talk about it. Just… not now? I really want to be able to sit down with you and not have to worry about being anywhere. Ok?" Lorelai put her hand on Rory's shoulder and rubbed it, smiling. Rory nodded and Lorelai got up.  
  
"Ill be back before 11, ok?"  
  
"Ok Mom, ill see you later."   
  
Lorelai grabbed her purse and walked outside, "Man that thing is ugly." Lorelai said, referring to the overly-expensive BMW her parents had let her borrow. She got inside and started the car, thinking about the conversation she had just had with Rory. To Lorelai, what happened was almost a blessing. Rory had gone back to being, well, Rory. The Rory that Brad hadn't jaded, and the Rory Jess hadn't claimed. It was back to 'normal'. Even though Lorelai had expected Rory to ask about what happened to her, she had still hoped Rory would remember on her own. 'I shoulda stayed home,' she thought, while driving towards Sookie's. But she couldn't, not now, they would just have the conversation later.   
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
Rory sat in the kitchen a few minutes after her mother had left, wondering what the big deal was about this 'Brad'. She walked into her room, hoping maybe she would find something there that would make sense of this 'Brad' mystery. She walked over to her closet and opened the doors, first looking behind the clothes then up in the corners, but she still found nothing. Then she walked over to her desk, and opened the drawer.  
  
There, she found her diary. It was full of her most deepest, darkest, personal secrets. 'Perfect,' she thought, making her way into the living room. Rory plopped down on the couch and sat Indian style, quickly opening the diary. Once open, she skipped to the back, hoping to find some answers. She ran her fingers up and down the pages, scanning for the name Brad, then she found it.  
  
Dear Diary,  
I'm in love! Brad and I have been going out for almost a year now and I cant believe how happy I am. He's perfect for me, always nice and caring and sometimes a little over-protective but I don't mind. I feel so safe and complete with him… wow its great! Just today, we went to Hartford and…  
  
Rory continued reading and smiled at the fact that she had been in love. She pondered at how nice it must have been, and then turned her attention to the next few pages. Her smile quickly turned to a frown when she saw the tear-stained and ink smudged page in her diary.  
  
Dear Diary,  
Brad hit me today. I cant understand it, I don't want to. He loves me, and I love him. He made a mistake, but how am I supposed to know he wont ever do it again? He made me stay at the bridge with him, afterward to 'talk it out'. I only stayed because I didn't want to upset him anymore than he was… god he's such an asshole! I cant stop crying, but Id better before my Mom here's me. I want to tell her but I mean, how would that help the situation? Exactly - it wouldn't. I guess ill just tell her sometime later, when everything is straightened out. I'm really tired so I'm going to go to bed… night.  
Love,  
Rory  
  
Rory froze. She couldn't believe what she had just read - he HIT her? She stared at the page for a few minutes then decided she needed to know how this ended. It was like a book that you just cant put down because its so incredible - but instead it was her life. Everything she was reading wasn't fiction, it was all real. She read the next few pages, explaining about how she told her Mom and how Brad had hit her again. She was in awe, how could she be so stupid as to stay with him after the first time? Then she read the parts about Jess. She slowly closed the diary and walked towards her room, placing it back in the drawer. Rory then quickened her pace as she exited the room and made her way towards the phone. She picked it up and dialed, waiting for an answer.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hi." Rory's voice was cold as ice.  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
A/N - I bet you guys are wondering who she called! Haha, I'm not telling till next chapter! I must be the queen of cliffhangers because with all the stories I read I don't see as many as I throw into my stories. Anyways, I again apologize for the lack of updates as I will TRY to do them more often. I'm also thinking of ending this story soon with a possible sequel? I'm still not totally sure about it, so please R&R and give me your ideas! Thanks! 


	25. TwoFaced Lies

"Who is this… Ror?"  
  
"Wow. Good guess."  
  
"Wow, its been… a long time."  
  
"Yea. Guess it has."  
  
"How have you been?"  
  
"To be honest, not to hot Brad." Saying his name made her shiver, why did it have that sort of effect on her? She had read the diary, she knew what went on. But actually saying his name made her body tremble like it knew what was going on, even though her mind didn't.  
  
"How come? Is everything OK?"  
  
"Not really. To make a long story short, I was in a car accident. I had my memory of the last few years knocked right out of me. Not knowing it was a blessing in disguise, I decided to dig up the past and guess what Brad? I found my journal. The one that explains how YOU hit me and how YOU obviously didn't care about me. You see, then I might have not been strong enough to say anything back to you, or I might have just been to scared. Now I'm not. What do you have to say for yourself?"  
  
"Rory… I don't know what to say. When we broke up a while ago, I went and got help. Now I'm under control, I know how to manage my anger and I'm all better Rory, I swear it. I was going to call you, next week, when I ended my regular therapy sessions and tell you in hopes you would consider another shot at our relationship. It would be a new, healthy, relationship where everything is under control. I don't want you to rush into anything… I just want you to understand. Read the good entries Rory, I promise you that you were happy with me, and you can be again. I can make it work."  
  
Rory sat, in disbelief. Something about his voice made her long for him, for who he used to be and for who he had become. Something had taken over her, wanting to know everything she possibly could about her past. She didn't want to miss out on anything, she wanted everything she knew back in her mind where it belonged, so she made an offer.  
  
"Then show me." She blurted out.  
  
"Show you?" He asked, obviously confused by her uncharacteristic way of showing some sort of pity on him.  
  
"Now. Come over now, and show me how you can make things better. We are NOT doing anything physically, and I'm taking a big step here by trying this. Don't think its all for you either, I just hope maybe you can help me remember some things about my past. I mean, if I spent so much time with you, then you've got to know something others don't."  
  
Brad smiled on the other end of the phone, obviously ecstatic about the fact that Rory might take him back. Then he quickly thought of Lorelai, and Jess, and especially Luke.  
  
"I would," he stuttered, "but nobody really likes me there. Jess, Luke, and definatly not you Mom. I mean, I hit you Rory. I'm not going to deny it, since part of my problem was just that - always denying it. But I'm changed Rory, and I do want to make it up to you."  
  
Rory had a gut feeling not to do this, not to invite him over. She knew it was wrong in everyway possible, but damn it, Rory wanted more than anything to start remembering her past. And if Brad had been going to therapy, well, then everything should go just fine. She only planned on inviting him over for a few minutes anyway, and definatly before her Mom got home. Once more, the gut feeling to call of the whole meeting hit her intensely, but again she shoved the feeling aside.  
  
"No body's here, but you still should come through my window. Brad… don't screw this up. In my diary your one shitty guy but I'm giving you another chance. We ARENT getting back together, I just want to know some things."  
  
At that, Brads smile quickly faded into frown and his eyebrows dropped. An envious expression crossed his face as he asked Rory the fateful question, "Your with that asshole Jess. Aren't you?" Rory was taken by surprise at this, figuring Brad had known.  
  
"Yea, I am. Well, kinda. I don't know, its weird… please, just get over here before I change my mind Ok?"  
  
Brad made a noise into the phone that Rory took as a yes, and then slammed it down. "Ha, therapy sessions, what a friggin retard," Brad mumbled to himself, looking at the pictures all over his room of Rory and him. "I cant believe she's with Jess. We could have been perfect together…" his hands slowly reached the close up picture of Rory's face and he touched her 'cheek' with his fingers, gently massaging it. "But I blew it." he said, quickly changed the soft, gentle touch on Rory's face to a quick yet forceful punch into the wall. "If I cant have her, nobody can." Brad changed his clothes in an attempt to look nice, and gelled his hair.   
  
Then he grabbed his backpack, got on his shoes and made his way out the door, "Mom!!" he yelled, "I'm going to… the library!"   
  
"Whatever!" His Mom called back, putting her beer in the air to signal she heard him.  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
Rory paced around her room, then caught sight of the window and unlocked the lock. "What the hell was I thinking!" she said to herself, quickly locking the lock again. "No, I want him here…" she unlocked the window and stepped backwards two steps. Then, just as quickly she lunged for the window and locked it again. "Dammit!" she yelled, slamming her fists on the window sill. If this is what she wanted, why was she having such a hard time follow through with it? She KNEW it was wrong already, she knew before she even invited him. But now it seemed much more wrong, like she had really done something stupid. She wished with all her might he wouldn't come over. Then she heard the doorknob…  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
"Rory?" she heard, "I'm back!" Lorelai said, opening the door, and shaking her keys out before shutting it close.  
  
'Oh no…' Rory thought, 'She must have come back because she felt bad about the Brad thing,' she made her way out of her room and hugged her Mom.  
  
"Hey, why are you home so early?" Rory asked, pretending she had no idea why.  
  
"Well, I felt bad just leaving you without telling you about Brad." Lorelai said apologetically, starting to put her purse down.  
  
"Oh, well Its ok. I read my diary and I know everything about him." Rory stated, as if she said it all the time, and turned around beginning to walk back to the kitchen. Lorelai quickly, but gently, grabbed her arm to pull her back, and Rory threw her arm out of Lorelai's grasp as if by habit. Lorelai stepped back, momentarily stunned, then dropped her hand. "Sorry…" she said, her face toward the ground.  
  
"Mom, sorry… I just, I don't even know. My body sometimes does and feels these things I cant understand because I simply cant remember. This sucks, I just want to remember!" Rory said it more angrily than sad, and defensively hugged herself.  
  
"Aw but Rory baby, its not that easy. Are you Ok about this whole Brad situation? Now that you know about it?" Lorelai put her arm around Rory and placed her head on top of hers, leading them both to the kitchen. After a few steps, Rory pushed them away and faced Lorelai.  
  
"Listen, can I just have some time alone?" Lorelai was hurt by Rory's rejection, but didn't show it. "Yea," she said, " are you sure? Its a lot to take in finding out these things about your past. I meant to tell you Ror, I really did… I'm sorry you found out this way."  
  
"Mom I'm fine I promise. I don't even remember it, to me its just like reading another book. Just, go back to Sookie's for a little bit. I need some time to think, I'm sure you do to. When you come home, we will talk about it. I promise." Rory half smiled and Lorelai did the same.  
  
"Ok babe, Ill just, be back around 11 then." Lorelai backed up and grabbed her purse, sadly making her way out the door again.   
  
Rory sighed with relief, as she watched her Mom leave. She knew what a disaster it would be if the two had run into each other, she read all about how much her Mom hated him and the things Luke and Jess did to him. It only gave her all the more reason to regret her decision to invite him over, though, knowing that everyone hated him and that they would lose trust in her if they found out what she was doing. She walked over to the phone, thinking of possibly calling Brad again, and uninviting him or telling him something came up. But she figured it was to late, and sat down on the couch, waiting for his arrival.  
  
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A/N - Not much to say except I expect the next chapter to be full of intensity and regrets. I haven't written it yet, I'm in the beginning process's of it though. Please R&R so I know where I should go with my next chapter, and wish me luck on my exams! 


	26. Awkward Silence and Stolen Glances

Why Me? - Chapter 24  
  
"Awkward Silence and Stolen Glances"  
  
A/N- I AM SO SORRY for the lack of updates, I have been soooo incredibly busy! Please bare with me. As far as the next few chapters, they are going to take a very weird turn that im sure you all are going to kill me for. Please just trust me and R&R! Love you guys!  
  
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There was silence as Rory and Brad sat at the kitchen table eating. He had finally came over, he crawled through her window and everything. The moment he came in, things became weird when he tried to give her a hug and had held on to her a litle longer than she expected, or liked. Nonetheless, he was there whether she wanted him to be or not. Rory's eyes darted around the room and she sighed heavily. If she had thought it was weird before, it was definatly ten times as weird with all the awkward silence and stolen glances.  
  
"Um, I'm getting something to drink. Want anything?" Rory asked, hopefully he would say yes so she could have something to do besides sit there.  
  
"Yea, sure. Whatever your getting is fine."   
  
Rory pushed her chair back and quickly got up, walking towards the refrigerator. She opened it and leaned down, looking to see what kind of drinks they had left. While shifting through the Dr. Pepper and Sunkist, deciding what she wanted, she began to think. She thought about how this was a mistake, how she shouldn't have invited him, and how she should have talked to her mom before making any irrational decisions. 'To late...' she mumbled to herself. She grabbed two Dr. Peppers and stepped back to close the door. She turned around, only to find Brad standing face to face with her.  
  
"Whoa," she said startled, and stepped back, "what are you doing?"  
  
Brad's mouth crept up into disturbing smirk, and he grabbed her shoulders. She dropped her soda's as he pulled her into a hard, passionate kiss. But just as quickly as he had done so, she shoved him away, completely baffled as to what had just happened.  
  
"What the hell are you doing!" She screamed, backing up into the refrigerator.  
  
"To late what Rory? To late for what?" His eyes stared her down, and she began to get scared. She shifted to her right, trying to escape the corner he had just locked her into. But the more she moved, the more he maneuvered to stay in her way making it impossible for her to escape.  
  
"Brad, your scaring me please stop..." Rory pleaded, but his eyes seemed glazed over. He seemed distant, like he knew what he was doing but no matter what, even if he had wanted to, was powerless to stop it.  
  
"No, Rory, just enlighten me for a second. To late for what? To late for us? Because it isn't. We can be happy together, we can get married and have kids and spend the rest of our lives together. You know you want to, its that jackass Jess thats putting ideas in your head. Your Mom to. They dont know how happy we were together - they dont care either!" Brad slammed his right fist into the counter that was right beside Rorys head, missing her by mere inches.   
  
As soon as he did this, Rory darted her head away from his fist and got a flashback of when he had hit her before. In that moment, she couldn't breath as it all came rushing back to her. Every moment between the two of them that she couldn't remember, suddenly had come back and it hit her like a ton of bricks. She felt her knee's go weak and her body tremble, her eyes suddenly drawn to the man in front of her. As she studied him, she saw the same pathetic excuse for a man that she had left a few weeks back. And it scared the hell out of her.  
  
"Brad..." she paused trying to find the right words to calm him down. If she couldn't do it then, how could she now?   
  
"... we can be together. But not when you act this way, I want to be with you. I really do, we just have to work on this ok?"  
  
She saw him relax and he slowly brought his fist down to his side. She began to breath again as he backed up and made his way to the kitchen table, resting his elbows down and placing his head in his hands. She slowly followed and sat down beside him. They both sat there for a couple minutes, obviously trying to digest what had just happened.  
  
"Brad," Rory said breaking the silence, "you haven't been going to counsuling have you?" Her voice showed genuine concern, and she gently touched his shoulder.  
  
He took his head out of his hands and looked at Rory. The tears in his eyes were enough to make her heart melt and remember why she had fallen in love with him in the first place. He wanted her help. No, correction, he needed her help and he would never get it if she didnt help him.   
  
But what about what he had done to her? What about the abuse he had subjected her to when all she did was try and love him? She couldnt just ignore that, but it seemed as though even though some of her memory had come back, it was more like a dream than a reality. She didnt know what to do now... if her Mom found out about this she would kill her! And if she found out that Rory actually wanted to HELP Brad, then all hell would break lose.   
  
Rory's thoughts were interrupted when Brad violently got up and threw the chair he had been sitting in against the wall, putting a hole in the wall and breaking the chair. Rory quickly shot up from her chair and located her nearest exit, incase she needed to escape. But instead of Brad turning to her and letting out his anger, he fell to the ground in sobs.   
  
Rory stood there in shock and just watched him. He curled up into a ball and wrapped his arms around his knees, crying into the crease between his legs that had been brought up to his chin. Rory, hardly being able to believe what had just happened the past couple of minutes slowly walked over to Brad and sat down beside him.   
  
"Brad." She whispered, he turned to her and let go of his knee's, instead wrapping his arms around her and cried into her shoulder. She held onto him and let him cry until he couldn't anymore. When he was done, Rory wasnt sure what to do next.  
  
"Do you want to go for a walk or something?" Rory asked, she knew everything she was doing right now was so incredibly wrong but she couldn't help it. She still loved him.  
  
Brad smiled and shook his head yes, "But what if someone see's us?"  
  
Rory thought for a second before replying, "Their all asleep, its 10 at night."  
  
Brad nodded and went to take Rory's hand, but she pulled away.   
  
"Lets just take this one step at a time, Ok?" She could tell he was getting upset at this but she continued making her way outside and quickly changed the subject hoping he would forget he was beginning to get angry. It worked, and they made their way outside.  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
"Rory! Are you awake?" Lorelai said, walking into the Gilmore household. The first thing she noticed was that all the lights were on, and it was 10:30 at night. Usually Rory turned all the lights off before going to bed. Lorelai guessed she just had a rough night and fell asleep on her bed without making sure the lights were off and made her way to Rory's room.   
  
"Ror?" Lorelai said, glacing into the living room on her way to Rory's room.  
  
"Helllllo anyone home?" Lorelai looked in and around Rorys room but it showed no sign of human presence besides Lorelai herself. She walked over to Rory's bed and found the open diary. 'Its her diary! I can't read it...' Lorelai thought, but her curiousity took over and she picked it up. 'Just a few lines,' she began reading but before she could finish the first sentence (which had been about Brad, naturally...) her guilt took over and she shut it.   
  
Then she remembered why she was there in the first place and began searching for Rory again.   
  
"Rory! Mommy's getting worried now so lets jump out from behind wherever you hiding and get this over with!" Lorelai made her way out of Rory's room and into the kitchen, where she saw the broken chair. 'What the hell?' she thought, then looked at the wall and saw the hole. 'Why the hell did she throw the chair against the wall? I'm gonna kill her...' Lorelai said, touching the hole and surveying the damage.   
  
Thats when Lorelai saw the soda cans. Cans. Plural. Not one, but two, meaning someone else had been in the house with her. Someone who had made her drop the soda cans, and someone who would have enough balls to throw a chair into a wall.  
  
"Oh my God," Lorelai said out loud, thinking back to earlier that night and the diary, "Brad."  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
A/N - Ok, you like? I like! Lol, please R&R because I love writing this but I dont know if anyone's really reading? Anywho, suggestions are welcome and again - trust me with this :-) 


	27. Temper, Temper

Why Me? - Chapter 25  
  
"Temper, Temper"  
  
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Lorelai raced over to the phone and dialed Rory's cell.   
  
"Pick up, pick up, pick up..." Lorelai said outloud, pacing back and fourth. Finally, after a few rings, she did.  
  
"Hello?" Rory said as nonchalantly as possible. She has seen her Mom's number on the Caller ID and wanted to make sure that she played everything out cool so her Mom wouldn't think something was wrong and come looking for her.  
  
"Rory," Lorelai exclaimed, "where are you?? Are you Ok? Is Brad with you?"  
  
Rory stopped in her tracks when she heard this, 'How does she know?' she thought.   
  
"Mom, calm down I'm fine! I'm at... Lanes. She wanted me to come over for a little bit because she got in a fight with her Mom. And no, Brad isn't with me - where'd you get that idea?"  
  
"Oh thank God Rory. You need to call me before you go places! I came home and found a broken chair, a hole in the wall, and two Dr. Pepper's dropped on the ground. I thought you might have made the horrible mistake of inviting him over or something, I guess I should have known you have more sense than that."  
  
Rory winced when she heard her Mom say this and glanced over at Brad, who had stopped when she did and was looking at her.  
  
"Um, yea..." Rory said uneasily, she wasn't sure what to say now. She has just lied to her Mom, twice infact, and she wasn't very good at it.  
  
"Ror? There's something you aren't telling me... what is it?"  
  
Rory thought about maybe telling her Mom, and just getting it over with. But after quickly going through the pro's and con's in her head she decided against it. Her Mom would never trust her again if she told her, so she decided to keep her mouth shut and get off the phone with Lorelai as soon as possible.  
  
"Mom it's nothing, really, listen I'll be home in 10 minutes Ok? Will that make you feel better?"   
  
Lorelai sighed, happy that her daughter wasn't in any danger, "Yea babe, that would be great."  
  
"Ok, I'll see you then. Will you be awake?"  
  
"Yea, but we still need to talk about Brad!"  
  
"Oh yea, about that... can we do it tomorrow? I'm really tired. Lane kinda wore me out emotionally already with her crying and stuff. I'll be home in a little bit, you can just go to sleep and we can talk about everything tomorrow."  
  
Lorelai, a little taken back by this, agreed and told her daughter she loved her before hanging up. She had forgotten to ask for an explanation to the chair, but figured she could ask tomorrow. Actually, she wasn't sure if she forgot to ask or if she didn't have enough time to considering Rory had rushed her off the phone so quickly. Something wasn't right, and Lorelai sensed it. She slowly made her way up the stairs after cleaning up the kitchen and to her room. She wanted to wait up for Rory, but if she didn't want to talk then there was no use in trying to make her.  
  
Lorelai changed and crawled into bed, but not before grabbing her phone and dialing someone's number.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hey."  
  
"Lorelai, uh, hi."  
  
"How are ya Lukey?"  
  
"Good, and you?"  
  
"I'm fine."  
  
There was a pause, when both of them weren't sure what to say. Then Luke spoke up.  
  
"Did you, um, need me for something?"  
  
"No... not really."  
  
"Lorelai its..." there was a quick pause as Luke checked the clock, "... 10:30 at night. You don't go around calling people at 10:30 at night when everything's fine."  
  
"Aw but Lukey! I just wanted to talk!" Lorelai whined like a five year old, and smiled at her childish antics. So did he. She had been calling him late at night for the past couple of days, just to talk. Since she couldn't talk to Rory very much anymore, and Sookie was pregnant and extremely moody, Luke was the only one left to turn to.  
  
"Yea yea yea," he replied, "so how is everything with Rory? She doin better?"  
  
Lorelai dramatically sighed and rolled over on her back, "No! Now she's being all shady and mysteriously sneaking off to Lane's without calling first, leaving the house a mess and then rushing me off the phone when I try to talk to her about it."  
  
"Maybe she really is at Lane's, forgot to clean the house, and wanted to get back to Lane quickly?" Luke offered, trying to comfort her. He had been doing this for the past couple of nights, as it was obvious Lorelai was having a hard time adjusting to Rory's memory loss.   
  
"Luke, there was a broken chair, a hole in the wall and two dropped soda cans. Now if that doesn't spell scary I don't know what does."  
  
"S-c-a-r-y spells scary."  
  
"Lucas, now's not the time for your jokes."  
  
"Sorry..."  
  
"I just wan..." Lorelai stopped short as she heard the front door close and someone walk in, "Luke," she whispered, "let me call you back later." She hung up the phone before he got a chance to answer and tip-toed to the top of the stairs, stepping down a few so she could hear whatever was going on downstairs.   
  
"Ror?"   
  
"Yea Mom?" Rory answered.  
  
"Ok, just making sure it was you!"  
  
"It is! G'night Mom!"  
  
"Night Ror."  
  
Lorelai heard Rory's door close and made her way back upstairs, and once again crawled into her bed. Something still wasn't right, and Lorelai knew it but couldn't quite put her finger on it. She figured she would talk to Rory about everything tomorrow and then that would be the end of it. Atleast, thats what she thought...  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
"Hurry!" Rory whispered, waving Brad into her room. Once he was in, she shut her door and leaned against it, "Oh my God that was close..." she sighed.  
  
"Thanks for letting me over Rory, I just really didn't want to go home. Especially not now since we are getting things back together."  
  
Rory nodded and knew that letting him come back to her house was a huge mistake. But this time, the feeling was so strong she couldn't just let it go. She decided to ask him to leave.  
  
"Listen Brad, it was great that we are getting back on the right track and everything but I think you should go, its would be horrible if my Mom found you here with me."  
  
Brads eyes shot towards Rory's and he got up.  
  
"You don't want me here? I thought we were doing better!" Brad said, his voice raised a little above normal.  
  
"Brad shh! Don't get mad, I do want you here I just don't want my Mom to know and this is getting to risky! Please don't do this, just leave and you can come back tomorrow. I promise."  
  
"You want me to leave so you can call Jess up and be his little whore don't you?"  
  
"Brad stop it, you know thats not true. Why are you getting so angry? We just had a perfect night, don't ruin it."  
  
"Ruin it? So now IM ruining it? I should have known you'd run back to him as soon as I was gone. I was an idiot for thinking any different!" Brad exclaimed, now almost yelling.  
  
"Keep it down! Thats NOT true Brad, don't even go there."  
  
"I'm not going there, it's just the truth! Isn't it? It is. I know it is. So do you. You make me sick Rory, he doesn't love you... he just wants you for sex. You do know that right? Your his little fucking toy and don't mean shit to him, while I sit here not pressuring you to do anything and love you!"  
  
Brad had been advancing towards Rory the whole time he was talking, and every step he took forward she took backward until her back was up against the door once more. She grabbed the knob.  
  
"Brad stop it, please stop it!" Rory pleaded with him but it was to late. He was now face to face with her, and he had that look in his eyes as if he couldn't control what was about to happen. She looked into his eyes and flashbacked to all the other times she had seen those same, glazed over eyes, and she knew what was about to happen. She went to turn the knob and scream for help but he grabbed her wrist and ripped her hand off the knob and put his other hand over her mouth.  
  
"Shut up Rory, shut up!"  
  
She struggled against him but even though he was only a little taller then she was, he was much bulkier and obviously much, much stronger. He pressed her hard up against the door and got face to face with her.  
  
"If you scream. I will kill you. Do you understand that?" He squeezed her wrists that he was holding to get his point across and she nodded quickly. He let her go and she slid down the door, in shock. He was standing right in front of her, but she didn't care. She deserved this. She had called him, she invited him over, she invited him in. She thought about what an idiot she had been and how she had let her Mom down. Then she looked up at Brad. He was hovering over her and was glaring down at her.  
  
"What do you have to say now?" He said, his voice was husky and raspy. And it scared the hell out of her. It was like she had just been thrown into the situation she was in as her body began to tremble and hands began to shake, as though she suddenly realizing what was happening.  
  
"You know," he started, "I loved you. I love you. How can I just let someone else take you like this? I can't. I won't. If I can't have you Rory... nobody can."  
  
"You can have me! I want to be with you, I love you." Her voice was shaking as she spoke, and she hoped she had said the right things. Thats all she wanted to say, was the right things so he would leave her alone. 'I can't believe I thought about getting back with him...' she thought, staring up at him.  
  
"Your LIEING!" He screamed, and kicked her in her stomach, causing her to double over in pain. She didn't scream, she didn't yelp, because she knew she couldn't. He'd kill her - and she knew he would.  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
Lorelai sat up straight in bed when she thought she heard someone yell. It sounded like a man, like Jess maybe. She quickly got out of bed and made her way to the top of the stairs, listening intently to see if she heard anything. Then she heard a thud, as if someone had fallen, or been thrown, against Rory's door. Her heart jumped and she knew exactly what was going on. She ran downstairs, "Rory!" she screamed, but when she went to open Rory's door, it was locked. Lorelai shook it violently, trying to get it open, "RORY!" she screamed, but got no reply.  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
A/N - See? Brad is always the bad guy. GR I hate him! Please R&R and thanks to JCtigerwolf4e for the very enthusiatic review, as well as a big ol' thanks to messy, Monique, and Tye for always reviewing and being so faithful :-) And also, thanks to Luke Rules for reading my whole story in one sitting, an amazing feat indeed! Hehe, remember to send in your E-Mail if you want to be notified when I update and, as always, R&R! 


	28. So Close Yet So Far

Why Me? - Chapter 26  
  
"So Close Yet So Far"  
  
Disclaimer: *Dont own it, wish I did. Don't make money of it, wish I did. Don't have a life, wish I did...*  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
Lorelai panicked, "Rory! Open up!" she screamed, shaking the doorknob and trying to open the door with all her might. "Dammit Rory! Open your door!" She tried her hardest to open the door, but still, nothing. Lorelai raced out the front door and to Rory's window, which she knew Rory always kept unlocked. She opened it and carefully made her way into her daughters bedroom, hoping for the best but fearing the worst.  
  
"Ror?" she said, looking around the room. She searched the closet, under the bed, behind the desk, everywhere she could think of but she couldn't find Rory. 'Oh my God,' she thought, 'he took her. He took my baby!' Lorelai raced into the kitchen and grabbed the phone.  
  
"Hello? Lorelai? If this is you I swear..."   
  
"He took her." Lorelai said, panting heavily and pacing back and fourth on the verge of tears.  
  
"What? Who took who?"  
  
"Brad! Brad took Rory!" Lorelai screamed into the phone, getting impatient.  
  
"Ok wait, slow down... how do you know she just isn't coming in late?"  
  
"Because she already came home, then I heard his voice and a thud and before I got to her they were gone! Luke, what am I going to do! I can't lose her, oh God not again, I can't lose her again..." Lorelai fell to the ground in sobs and dropped the phone. This was it. Brad had taken the daughter she finally got back, and she had no idea where they went.   
  
"Lorelai? Lorelai!" Luke screamed into the phone, but got no answer. He hung up and quickly got out of bed, "Jess! JESS!" Luke screamed while getting dressed, "get up!"  
  
"Wha?" Jess said in a daze, barely awake.  
  
"Brad kidnapped Rory, lets go."  
  
Jess didn't need to hear anything else. He bounced of his bed, threw on his shorts and a shirt and was out the door before Luke was.  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
Brad heard Lorelai coming downstairs, and quickly grabbed Rory.   
  
"Lets go," he whispered, opening the window.  
  
"What are you doing? Where are we going?" Rory was crying and could hardly catch her breath between the sobs. She had just gotten back, just got home, just had some of her memory return to her and now she was being stolen. Taken away from the one place she felt safe. She got lost in her own thoughts and before she knew it, she was outside, her mouth covered and hands being held behind her back. She was behind a tree, facing her house when she saw someone snooping around her window. 'Mom!' she thought, but couldn't yell, Brad's hand was still over her mouth.   
  
It was as if he was torturing her, making her watch her own mother search desperately for her and not be able to scream out that she was Ok, that she was only a few feet away. She was so close yet so far, no matter how cliché it sounded. Then, just as she was about to bite Brads hand and scream with all her might, he ripped her away from where they were standing and began taking her further away.   
  
"Don't try to fight me," he whispered in her ear, "it's no use."  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
Luke jumped into his car, starting it and leaving without Jess. Well, it wasn't as if he had left without Jess but Jess had gotten up and left so quickly that Luke couldn't keep up. Jess was pouncing through different yards and sprinting as fast as he could to get to Lorelai's. Finally, he made it there, and ran inside without even knocking.  
  
"Lorelai!" He yelled, searching the house for her. But he didn't have to look very far, he found her sitting on the couch in her living room, staring straight ahead. He quickly walked over to her, and grabbed a hold of her shoulders.  
  
"Lorelai - where is Rory?" He said it slowly and deliberately, as though he was talking to a child. But she didn't respond.  
  
"Lorelai!" He said a little louder, shaking her to get her attention. Finally, her eyes traveled to his and he saw the tears, the pain, and the anguish of losing a daughter not once, but twice. He quickly let her go and backed up. "Oh God, she's really gone..." he mumbled to himself, then made his way to the front door. He opened it with force and ran directly into Luke.  
  
"What the hell?" Luke said, almost getting knocked over.  
  
"She's gone, so I'm going to look for her." Without waiting for an answer, Jess sprinted outside and began to run. He had no particular place in mind, but he just knew that running would get him wherever he needed to be faster.  
  
"Jess!" He yelled, but Jess continued running and showed no sign of stopping.  
  
"Dont get yourself killed!"   
  
Luke walked inside and found Lorelai on the couch, just staring at the wall. He made his way beside her and sat down. "Lor?" He said quietly, and she slowly turned to him.   
  
"I can't do this again. I can't lose her again..." she drifted off and fell into Luke's arms. She began to cry uncontrollably and Luke held onto her as if she was the last thing on earth.   
  
"You haven't lost her Lor, I promise you haven't lost her." Luke began to tear up but quickly wiped them away, being strong for Lorelai. He kissed her on the head and brought her even closer to him. 'Were going to find her,' he thought, 'no matter what it takes...'  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
"Just tell me where were going, please... I think you owe me atleast that." Rory pleaded with Brad, who kept dragging her along.  
  
"We are going away. Some place we can be happy together, without all the worries of... life." He never looked her in the eye anymore, he only did that when he was angry. Every other time he would talk to her, he'd be looking somewhere else, his eye's darting back and fourth as if he was looking for someone or something.  
  
"No matter where we go, we will never be happy together. We will NEVER be together!" Rory screamed at him, and didn't care at the time what he would do. He stopped short and brought her close to him.  
  
"Don't ever say that, you don't know what your talking about!"  
  
"No Brad, you don't know what your talking about! How do you expect me to love you when you are like... like this! You disgust me, and one things for sure I'd rather die than be with you." Rory couldn't believe what she had just said, even though it was the truth.   
  
Hearing that, Brad began to breath heavily and his eyes widened. He shoved her with all his might, and she fell hard on the grassy floor.   
  
"I said you don't know what your talking about!"  
  
He picked her up with one arm and punched her, sending her flying to the ground and leaving her confused as she tried to get herself up.   
  
"Rory, oh shit Rory I'm sorry..." He gently picked her up and looked at her with pleading eyes.   
  
"Baby I'm sorry, lets get out of here Ok? Let's be happy."   
  
Rory, not wanting to anger him anymore, quickly nodded and walked beside him. The pain hit her a few seconds later but she said nothing. She wanted to cry, but didn't because she didn't want him to have the pleasure of knowing he could hurt her this way, physically and emotionally. He locked their arms together and they made their way... somewhere. Rory still had no idea where he planned to take her, she didn't care anymore either.  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
"Hello? Yes, Id like to report a kidnapping..."  
  
Luke had called the police and told them everything he knew about Rory, and Brad as well. He told them about his history of abuse, and how Rory had been in a car accident and as a result lost her memory. The police said they would be over in a few minutes and then they hung up.  
  
Luke looked over at Lorelai who was in the same position he had found her in. She was in shock, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it except for comfort her and promise her everything would be alright. In reality, he had no idea if everything would be alright. He had seen what a psycho Brad had been, and what hell he had put both Rory and Lorelai through.   
  
"Luke?" Lorelai's voice jolted him back into reality and he quickly made his way over to her.  
  
"Yea?" He said, seating himself closely beside her.  
  
After a few seconds, she looked into his eyes and barely whispered, "Thank you."  
  
"For what?" He gently replied.  
  
"Coming over... being here... for always being here when I need you."   
  
He nodded and blushed a little, unsure of what to say to that. But she knew exactly what to say, or do in this case, she grabbed his face and quickly pulled him into a short but sweet kiss. Stunned, Luke just stared at her. This was what he had been waiting for all his life, or what seemed like all his life, and it had just happened. But damn her, why did she have to do it under these circumstances? If it had been any other time he would have grabbed her and continued the kiss, making it as deep and passionate as possible but right now they had business to take care of, her daughter to find, things that were way more important than some kiss.   
  
"Let's go." He said, grabbing her arm.  
  
"What are we doing?" Lorelai said, snatching her purse on the way out.  
  
"Were gonna find her." He took her outside and looked at the two cars in the driveway.  
  
"Um, lets just say your car might be a little more reliable than mine."  
  
"Oh that piece of garbage isn't my car..." Lorelai said, eyeing the BMW.  
  
"Whatever, lets just go." Lorelai threw him the keys from her purse and got out her cell phone, calling everyone she knew to let them know what happened and to be on the lookout for Rory.  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
They had been walking for what seemed like forever, but in reality was only about an hour or so. Rory glanced over at Brad, who still looked like he knew where he was going, but they both knew he had no idea where they were going to end up. Then Rory looked up, and saw Stars Hollow High. He had been taking her in circles, and this is where they ended up.  
  
"Brad, what are we doing here?"  
  
"The high school, I have a key..." his voice drifted off as he searched his backpack. He dug through it and finally pulled out a keychain, full of keys. He mumbled to himself while shifting through all the different keys, taking Rory to the back entrance of the school.  
  
"Here we go." Brad said to himself, sticking the key in the lock and turning it. The lock popped open and he opened the door, motioning for Rory to enter.   
  
"Ladies first." He smirked, and Rory skittishly walked past him and into the school.  
  
"What are we doing here?" She whispered.  
  
"Well, since its summer and all, I figured we could hide out here until we found somewhere permanent to go." He said it as though it was nothing, and that they had planned to do this and were both happy with it. She turned to him and he was locking the door from the inside with a different key. When he was finished he looked at her and tossed the key in the air, catching it with one hand and smiling at her. He walked past her and placed a kiss on her forehead, which she quickly wiped away when he wasnt looking.   
  
He took them to the auditorium, which was dark and empty until he turned on the light switch and ran into the middle. She stayed by the door and he opened his arms wide, as if to show off his new humble abode.  
  
"Rory Gilmore, welcome to your new home!"  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
A/N - Well? Please tell me what you think, and again I'd like to hint that the long reviews and much appreciated! Hehe :-p Thanks to: Vfoxy713, bluedancer, Sirius, Angel Monroe, and lilacmoon for there very nice reviews and (or course) *Tye, Monique, Messy and ILoveJess* for being such great and loyal reviewers! Not saying that everyone else isnt, but they always make me feel warm and fuzzy inside :-D Please R&R!! Thanks! 


	29. Breath In Breath Out

Why Me? - Chapter 27  
  
"Breath In. Breath Out."  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
Breath in. Breath out. Breath in. Breath out.  
  
It was the only good piece of advice he could tell himself as he sat in the gazebo, alone. What else could he do? He had searched all over Stars Hollow, and couldn't find Rory anywhere. He knew Brad, he knew him well enough to know that he wouldn't dare take Rory anywhere else besides Stars Hollow because then that would take all the fun out of kidnapping her - by bringing her somewhere that he knew nobody could find them. By staying in Stars Hollow, the risk would always be there and the adrenaline caused by that risk would keep him going.   
  
Or maybe he was wrong? Afterall, he thought he knew Brad before he hit Rory. How could he be so sure that he knew him well enough to make the assumption that he would stay in Stars Hollow now? He was crazy, he was a psycho, and he sure as hell was making one huge mistake by taking Rory. Jess leaned back in his seat and stared forward, what else could he do. Sitting there wasn't doing him any good, but he didn't know where else to look. He let his head fall down and stared at his feet, his shoes were all muddy and grassy from cutting through yards, and his ankles were being suffocated with dirt and muck.  
  
"Jess!" He heard his voice being called and quickly shot his head up, hoping Rory would be standing there with arms wide open. But, it wasn't. It was Lorelai and Luke. What the hell were they doing in that car? He didn't care. He got up and jogged over to them, even though his legs were begging for rest.  
  
"Hey, you guys find her yet?"   
  
"Uh, no Sherlock if we had do you think we'd be standing here talking to you?"   
  
Lorelai. She reminded him so much of Rory that it wasn't even funny. Well, looks wise of course. They had the same eyes, the same smile, and the same sarcastic wit. He couldn't help but smile.  
  
"Wow Jess, you really find some sort of humor in this situation?" His smile quickly faded and he looked at Luke.  
  
"So, Luke," Jess made an emphasis on Luke's name making sure Lorelai knew he wasn't expecting an answer from her, "found anything?"  
  
"No not yet. You knew him pretty well do you have any ideas?"  
  
"Nope, checked out every place I thought he'd be."  
  
"Maybe you should recheck them, he could be walking around and not staying in one place."  
  
The two men nodded in agreement and Jess took off. Luke looked over at Lorelai, who for once, she actually looked her age. All 32 years of it, if not more. Her dried up tear stains and smudged make-up showed her defeat, and for once she wasn't the quirky, spunky, never acts-her-age Lorelai Gilmore but the sad, heart-broken, defeated Lorelai Gilmore. He looked away, he couldn't stand seeing her like that. Even though they had been through tough times in the past involving Rory, he had never seen her quite this lost.   
  
"Lorelai," he said, taking hold of her hand, "we've been through times like these. We can make it through, and I know we are going to find her."  
  
Lorelai sat there for a minute, staring at their entwined fingers and it looked as though she was fighting a battle inside her not to cry.  
  
"You don't know what it's like Luke." She whispered.  
  
"I know Lor, but..."  
  
Lorelai cut him off, this time sounding more angry and hurt than sad and remorseful, "No! You have no goddamn idea what its like to lose your kid, your best friend, and your world not once but twice! Twice!" She quickly let go of his hand and ran her fingers through her hair before slamming them down on her lap.   
  
"And whats worse Luke, is the second time around... knowing you could have prevented it." Her voice trailed off into the distance as she leaned her head lightly against the window and closed her eyes, sighing heavily.  
  
It was obvious she didn't want to talk anymore, so Luke silently made a promise to himself that he would find Rory no matter what it took. She was like a daughter to him, and even though he wouldn't show it... he was just as hurt as Lorelai.  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
Brad put his arms down to his sides after declaring that this would be their new home and looked around with a disapproving look on his face.  
  
"But this is no fun."  
  
'No fun? No fun!?' Rory thought, 'this whole fucking ordeal is no fun!' Rory shook her head to herself, but Brad, never missing a beat, noticed.  
  
"Oh, is something displeasing to Mrs. Gilmore?" He said sarcastically walking towards her.  
  
"Uh, no Brad, this is fine I just... I'm a little hungry thats all." She said, wrapping her arms around her stomach.  
  
"Oh. Well why didn't you say so earlier? I have the perfect little spot where we can eat. I really think you'll like it. Lets go."  
  
Brad grabbed her arm and forcefully pulled her along side him, making her sore legs and bruised arms throb with pain. Not to mention she thought her cheek bone was broken from where he had punched her before, but since her whole body was suffering nothing really outweighed the other in terms of pain.  
  
"Where are we going now?" Rory hesitantly asked.  
  
"Well, your hungry are you not?" Rory nodded. "Good, so were going to kill two birds with one stone. I have some buisness to take care of at the diner."  
  
'Oh God,' Rory thought, 'Jess and Luke are at the diner. I wonder if they even know I'm gone!'  
  
"What buisness?" Rory asked, suddenly getting confident and a little cocky.  
  
"Lets see... by now I'm expecting your Mom to be out with Luke looking for you, and Jess to be roaming the streets, like the little hoodlum he is, trying to find you. We're gonna stop by the apartment, leave a little note - you know, just to be polite and say were doing fine - then you can go ahead and grab whatever food you want from there." Brad was fumbling with the lock trying to get it to open and when he finally did, he once again let Rory out first, smirking at himself and cockiness oozing out of every pore in his body. She took the opportunity whole-heartedly, and as he was attempting to lock the door again, she sprinted away as fast as she possibly could.  
  
Rory screamed help, hoping someone would hear her, and ran as fast as her legs could carry her. She didn't even know where she was going, it was to dark to recognize anything but she didn't care. The faster she ran the quicker she got away.   
  
"Help!" She screamed, wondering if anyone would hear her...  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
A/N - A little shorter than the last two but I might actually do another update later today so be on the lookout for that! Please R&R!!! 


	30. Behind Closed Doors Part I

Why Me? - Chapter 28  
  
Title: "Behind Closed Doors"  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
Jess stopped short in his tracks. He made no movement, and listened again. Then he heard it, and his heart began to beat a million miles per second.   
  
It was very faint, very quiet, but nonetheless he had heard it. Or, he thought he had?  
  
"Help!"  
  
There is was again. This time, there was no mistaking whether it was real or not, or who was screaming it. He bolted back towards the diner and bellowed out her name in a way that he never had before.  
  
"Rory! RORY!" He yelled it while jumping over bushes and dodging tree's. He wasn't going to lose her again, he wasn't going to let Lorelai lose her again. He was out of breath, tired, and wasn't sure how much longer his legs would carry him. But he wouldn't let that stop him, he would crawl to wherever she was before he would give up.   
  
"Rory!" He screamed it again, this time standing in the road between the diner and the high school. Then he looked up, and saw the light in the diner apartment on.   
  
They were upstairs.  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
"Help!" She screamed it one last time before he caught up to her, and flung her to the ground.  
  
"You bitch!" He kicked her hard in her side, and she lost all her breath. Gasping for air, she held tightly to her stomach while he picked her up. He grabbed her by her shoulders and brought her close to his face, and began to shake her with every word he breathed, "What the hell are you thinking? Do you want me to kill you? Are you fucking insane?!" Rory looked deep in his eyes, and then with evey last ounce of enery she had - spit right into his face. Brad, stunned, just stood there while still holding on to her.   
  
"No, Brad... your fucking insane." She said it as though she didn't care anymore, as if either way she was going to die no matter what she did. The intensity in her voice almost scared him, but then he once again realized he was the one in control, he was the bigger one, and he was the one that could do the damage. Not this, 105 pound girl who suddenly had mean streak. The rage built up inside him and Rory knew that if he was going to kill her, this would be the time.  
  
But he didn't. Instead, he brought her even closer to him, covered her mouth and then turned her around. He put her head close to his collarbone and slowly spun around in a circle.   
  
"I want you to look around Rory..." he whispered into her ear, "because this is the last time you'll ever see Stars Hollow again."  
  
His voice made her shudder and tears began falling down her face. Her side, her arms, her shoulders, her face... nothing hurt more now than the pain she was feeling inside her. This could very well be the last time she ever saw Stars Hollow again, and she knew it. He was crazy, and this time she had pushed him to far. His voice brought her back to the reality of the situation she was in as he whispered his last words to her.  
  
"And if you thought I'd give everyone the decency of not finding your body, well then your wrong. See, your little boyfriends apartment up there?" He pointed and she nodded.  
  
"I'm sure you'd like to be there right now, wouldn't you?" She nodded again, she figured now wasn't the time to try and say the right things to him. He had been pushed to far as it was.  
  
"Well, good for you. That's where we are going still. Instead of you two being together, you snuggling in his arms, having sex..." Brad continued as they walked toward the diner but Rory couldn't hear a word of it. She remembered. She remembered everything now - how Jess had loved her, how he had always comforted her when she was going through the hard times, and how they had made love before she left for the trip. The trip... the accident... oh God, to her horror, she remembered it all. But it was to late now, she had remembered this all to late.   
  
Now they were in his apartment. Jess and Luke's, where she had gone with Brad, Jess, and herself many times before. They used to be best friends, all three of them. What happened? Where did she go wrong, where did he go wrong? Brad shoved her onto Jess's bed, and turned on the light. He began pacing back and fourth, as if he was thinking or debating what to do next.  
  
"God, I bet you guys had sex there to..." he said with jealously in his voice, eyeing Jess's bed.  
  
"We didn't."   
  
"Liar."  
  
"No, Im serious we..." Rory was cut off when she heard his voice. Jess. Her mind raced and her heart skipped a beat, could it really be him? Could he have heard her cries? Or was it just her mind, playing cruel tricks on her because she knew it was her last moments here.  
  
"What?" Brad noticed how she stopped mid sentence and was now interested in what she had to say.   
  
"Nothing, I just... we didn't have sex here." She said quietly, hoping to hear Jess's voice again.  
  
"You were always a bad liar Rory... see what you don't understand is I've known you for what, almost 2 years? And this is how you treat me? Like some stranger who has no idea what your thinking or feeling? Dammit Rory! Why do you have to be this way!"  
  
"Im not ANY way Brad! I just don't understand what brought you to be like this, what brought you to think that this is the only way we could be together! It's not, well... it is now. You could have gotten better, you could have been a different person but you choose not to. So don't ever blame this on me because I did nothing to make you this way!"  
  
Brad stopped pacing and looked at her. He walked over and sat down beside her, and began speaking in a quiet tone.  
  
"I love you, and you didn't care. You ran to him, you just gave up on us and ran to him. I could never understand why you did that, and I never will be able to." He wasn't done but Rory cut him off anyway, "Brad you hit me. Thats not me picking Jess over you, thats you treating me like dirt and me finding someone who deserved me."  
  
"I deserved you!"  
  
Rory saw that Brad was now calmer and ready to talk instead of yell, she knew better than anyone how to handle his different moods. So she took advantage of the situation and hoped that if it really was Jess she heard outside, he would come before what she was about to do escalated into what she didn't want to happen. She leaned into Brad and gently kissed his cheek, then the corner of his mouth, then his mouth. He passionatly returned the gesture and took her face in his hands.  
  
She winced, not just because he touched her bruised face, but because what she was doing was killing her inside. But she figured this could be the only way to buy time before Jess got to them and took her away like her knight and shining armor. Thats all she thought about while they were kissing, Jess.  
  
Jess. Jess. Jess.   
  
Thats the name she kept repeating in her head as Brad leaned her down on Jess's bed and his hand traveled up her shirt. She never opened her eyes, she didn't want to see Brad there, she just wanted to pretend it was Jess. God, what was she doing? What if Jess didn't come? What if it really was her mind playing tricks on her?   
  
"Rory..." Brad sighed quietly, he was on top of her now. She still wouldn't open her eyes, she didn't want to believe this was happening.  
  
"Rory," he said again, "open your eyes... look at me."  
  
Reluctantly, she did. There he was, on top of her, thinking that this is what she wanted. She couldn't do it anymore.   
  
"Get off me!" She screamed, and began kicking and wailing her hands in the air in an attempt to get him off her. But Brad wouldn't have it, "God dammit, what is wrong with you? You started kissing me! Why would you lead me on like that!"  
  
Brad didn't get up. He squeezed his legs tightly, making it so Rory couldn't move her legs at all. Then he snatched Rory's hands out of the air and held on to both her petite wrists with one of his masculine hands and pinned them above her head. Her plan had gone all wrong, Jess wasn't there and Rory was about to get.... raped. She couldn't even think about it, something that she and Jess had done so passionatly, and so much out of love, he was about to take it and make it something brutal and hurtful.  
  
"Please..." she pleaded as he began to kiss her roughly, "please don't..."  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
Jess quietly made his way inside the diner and walked behind the counter, grabbing the phone and quickly dialing Luke's cell.  
  
"Hello? Jess?"  
  
"Luke. I found Rory, she's in the diner. Get here FAST." Jess whispered into the phone, then hung up and went back outside to wait for them.   
  
Luke hung up the phone and made a 180 in the BMW, then stepped on the gas on the way towards the diner.  
  
"What? What is it Luke? Did he find Rory! Is she Ok?!" Lorelai was desperate for answers, but Luke just kept driving.  
  
"Luke! Answer me!"  
  
"I dont know if she's Ok!" He snapped, "Jess just told me to get to the diner fast... call the police tell them to go there."  
  
Lorelai pulled out her cell phone and called the police, telling them the location of Luke's diner and then quickly hung up. The two of them rode in silence the whole way, which was only about a total of 4 minutes. They pulled up and meet Jess at the doorway.  
  
"Jess why the hell arent you up there!"  
  
"Luke, this guy is strong when he wants to be... trust me it's better if we all go up there together."  
  
The three of them quietly walked in, and slowly made there way up the stairs being careful not to make any noise. Then Lorelai heard it, she heard her daughters cries. 'Please, please don't'... Lorelai heard her daughter and began running up the stairs.   
  
"Lorelai!" The two men yelled, but it was no use. She was gone, she made it to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked.  
  
"Dammit! What's it with everyone locking there friggin doors!" She screamed, Luke and Jess finally caught up to her and tried to open it as well, but it was definatly locked.  
  
"Back up..." Jess whispered, and pulled out a tool from his pocket. He stuck it in the doorknob and began twisting it and turning it. Lorelai and Luke looked at eachother and silently agreed that they, for once, were happy that Jess knew how to pick locks and be a nuisance. The three of them heard a thud, and that only made Jess work just as fast. Finally, he got it unlocked and burst through the door. What they saw horrified them.  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
Brad stopped when he heard Jess and Luke yell Lorelai's name.   
  
"You knew they were here... you knew!" Brad jumped off Rory and quickly ran over to the door and locked it. Then, without saying a word, he walked over to Rory and slapped her as hard as he could. He mumbled something indecipherable and threw her off the bed, kicking her when she fell to the ground.  
  
He stopped when he saw the doorknob jiggle and kicked her hard one last time before making his escape through the window. Rory laid there, dazed and confused, bloody and beaten as she watched her abuser slip away. There wasn't anything she could do, she couldn't even call out his name because she had no breath left.   
  
But seeing that was nothing compared the sight of her Mom, Luke, and Jess walking in through the doorway. Thank God, they found her. 'Everythings going to be Ok now...' she thought. Then everything went black.  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
A/N - Ok, even IM getting excitied as to where this is going! Hehe! I know how its going to end up, and like I've said before tttrrruuusssstttt me :-) By the way, I dont think I've ever done this before - not only updated twice in one day, but this (I think?) is the longest and most intense chapter I've ever written. Please R&R, because the more reviews I get the more anxious I am to post the write/post the next chapter. And trust me, you guys WANT the next chapter! Anyway, I hope you all enjoy and remember to always R&R!!!!! 


	31. Behind Closed Doors Part II

Why Me? - Chapter 29  
  
"Behind Closed Doors Part II"  
  
A/N - Alright people, I'm not going to lie. Two things. First - the reviews I got for last chapter were AMAZING and I love you guys so much for them. They made me all giddy :-) And secondly, the next chapter will be the last. I figured a whole 30 chapters sounded about right, because 29 wasn't enough and 31 just seemed to... much. Hehe, I know, I'm weird. After this, I might do a sequel but I think I want to explore other types of fanfic. Afterall, this is my first one... ok ill continue my ramblings at the bottom A/N. Enjoy!!  
  
PS. - There are parts in this story (partically the end) that get REALLY graphic and intense, It should be rated R but I couldn't figure out a way to move it to R and inform everyone I had done that. Anyways, discretion is advised. Don't say I didn't warn you!  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
They walked in, and the sight that meet their eyes was the most horrible thing the three of them had ever witnessed. It was Rory. Beaten, sprawled out on the floor, and seemingly unconscious.   
  
Lorelai immediately ran up to Rory and began yelling her name, in desperate attempts to wake her up. "Dont do this to me again!" she screamed, "Please God... I need you to wake up baby, just wake up..."  
  
Luke ran to Rory as well, stroking her hair and clinging on to Lorelai telling her everything would be Ok.   
  
Jess, however, couldn't move. He was stunned into place by the horrible sight that his mind simply couldn't register. That wasn't the love of his life, on the floor, bloody and hurt. That wasn't the one person he'd actually made love to unconscious, and not responsive on the floor. Jess began to breath heavily as he surveyed they room searching for Brad. Any sadness, hurt, and confused feelings Jess had quickly turned to anger and the need for revenge. He looked over at the window, which was open.   
  
"Ill be back later." Jess grunted, walking quickly and angrily toward the window. The coward had escaped, and now he was going to pay.   
  
"Jess... Jess!" Luke tried to get Jess to come back, knowing that if caught up with Brad - he would kill him on the spot. But Jess couldn't hear anything, his pure uncontrollable rage had blocked out any sounds, any movements, and anything that didn't have to do directly with Brad. He climbed out the window and stepped out onto the fire escape, scanning the area for any sign of Brad. But it was dark out, and it was hard to see much of anything even if it was right in front of your face. So Jess used his instincts and figured that Brad, being the coward he was, would go home.  
  
He quickly descended down the ladder and began his hunt. There was no way Brad was going to make it home.  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
"Rory please..." Lorelai pleaded between sobs and rocked Rory back and fourth, like she used to do when Rory was just a child.   
  
"Luke, go get me some wet towels or something... she's so... bloody..."   
  
Luke quickly got up and entered the bathroom, taking as many towels as he could grab and rushing them back out to Lorelai. Lorelai grabbed one and began gently dabbing the towel against Rory's face, cleaning off all the blood. Luke looked away, he couldn't bare the sight before his eyes.  
  
"The police should be here soon..." Luke said, hoping Lorelai would find some relief in that. She simply nodded and continued staring at Rory. Her face was all clean now, the blood all gone, but the bruises remained. They would always remain, emotionally atleast, and Lorelai knew that. They had a long journey ahead of them, that is, if Rory would just wake up...  
  
Then it happened. She twitched, only slightly, but Lorelai noticed.  
  
"Ror? Baby?" Lorelai's voice was filled with hope and happiness, just waiting for her daughter to open her eyes or somehow respond. She twitched again, and squinted her eyes then slowly opened them, blinking furiously trying to adjust to her surroundings. Her eyes scanned the room and then rested on her mothers face.   
  
"Mom!" Rory's voice was drenched with relief and she hugged her mother as tightly as she possibly could. "Mom, I'm so sorry..." Rory kept repeating while clinging on to Lorelai for dear life.  
  
"Don't appolgize baby, don't appoligize..." they held on together and then Lorelai pulled back to look at Rory, as if to make sure this all wasn't a dream and this was really happening. She smiled at her daughter, just happy that she was alive and motioned for them to sit on the bed. Lorelai got up and sat down, but Rory wouldn't move. She just stared at the bed, and remembered what had happened in the past few hours.  
  
"Rory?"   
  
"I don't want to... I can't... can we sit somewhere else? Can we leave here, please?" The memories were to much for Rory to handle, and she made her escape towards the doorway. On her way out Luke grabbed hold of her shoulders, just to slow her down, and she yelped in pain. He quickly threw his hands in the air as if to show he had done nothing.  
  
"What! What'd I do!?"   
  
"Sorry Luke, it's not you, its just..." Rory pulled her neckline down to her shoulder and saw the bruises, then showed them to Luke and Lorelai.   
  
Lorelai gasped in horror and brought her hands to her mouth. She thought about her daughters face, her daughters shoulders... and she began to wonder what else Brad had done to her.  
  
"Luke," she said solemnly, never taking her eyes off Rory, "can Rory and I have a few minutes alone? Please?"   
  
Luke nodded and hugged Rory before leaving the room and making his way downstairs to the diner. He pulled out a random chair and sat down, trying to digest everything that had just happened. He put his elbows on the table and head in his hands, and began to - for the first time in all the while Rory has been misisng - cry. Not just because he was upset, or because Rory had been hurt so badly, but because he was so incredibly happy that she was finally home and safe.  
  
Lorelai walked over to Rory and began running her fingers through her hair, marveling at her daughters courage and the fact that she had still yet to see Rory cry.  
  
"Rory, what happened?"  
  
"It's my fault," Rory started.  
  
"Hey! It's not your fault, whatever happened tonight wasn't your fault no matter what you say. You understand me?"   
  
Rory nodded and continued, "Well, to make a long story short - I invited him over after you left. I wanted to know more about my past... more about what I went through and what happened. I had read it all in my diary and found his... Brads... number in there and I just called him. Apparently I forgot to write about what a liar he was because I hadn't exactly planned on inviting him over but, he said he had been going to counseling or something. So before I knew what I was saying I asked him to come over. He did, and then he tried to kiss me and stuff. I told him no, and he eventually lost it. He threw the chair against the wall and stuff and I mean I felt so bad for him Mom! He even started to cry and I just... at the time, sympathized for him. I knew you were going to come home soon so I told him we could go for a walk. We did and everything was going great, we were talking and communicating and everything. Then you called, and I snuck him in..." Rory stopped and looked at Lorelai, "... I think you pretty much heard what happened after that."  
  
Lorelai nodded and motioned for Rory to sit on Luke's couch, remembering how Rory wouldn't sit on Jess's bed and the look in her eyes when she had asked her to earlier. They sat down and Rory grabbed on to her side, "Damn..." she whispered to herself.   
  
"Rory, obviously there's more your not telling me..." she said, pointing to how Rory was holding on to her side. Rory took a deep breath and began.  
  
"He snuck me out the window, and he held my mouth shut. I saw you, running around to my bedroom window. You were only a few feet away Mom... you were so close!" Rory began to cry as she relived the situation in her mind. Lorelai hugged her and appoligized, over and over.  
  
"Mom you couldn't have known, don't be sorry..."  
  
"I know baby, keep going."  
  
"Well, then he started taking me away. I was so confused, so angry, and he kept saying how we could be together and be happy! It just got to a point that I couldn't take it anymore, and I screamed at him and told him we'd never be together. Then he just, shoved me and... then he punched me. And then after that he had the audacity to appoligize. God, it's just like all the other times!"  
  
Lorelai's eyes opened wide with anticipation, "The other times? You remember?"  
  
Rory nodded, "Yea. It came back in bits and pieces but, now I remember everything..."  
  
Lorelai wasn't sure whether or not to be estatic that she finally remembered her past, or sorry because Rory now remembered all the horrible things she'd been put through. Rory saw the conflict in her mothers eyes and quickly reassured her.   
  
"Its a good thing Mom, it's a really good thing." Rory smiled her first smile since Lorelai had found her. Lorelai sighed heavily and then motioned her hands as to ask Rory to continue her story.  
  
"Ok, well, like I said he appoligized then we kept walking. I had no idea where we were going then we ended up at the school of all places. He took me inside and told me that thats where we were going to be staying. I shook my head because, well obviously, he was crazy. He noticed and I just told him I did that because I was hungry or something, he believed me and said that it was good because now we could go to the diner and kill two birds with one stone, I didn't know what that meant and I still kinda dont. Anyway, we went out, and while he was locking the door I figured that would be my only chance to go and just ran. I screamed the whole way to. Then he caught me again, and just... tossed me on the ground and kicked me so hard, in my side." Rory motioned toward her side, as if to explain why she was holding onto it. "I couldn't breath. I thought he was going to kill me, he said he was going to. He kept saying if he couldn't have me then nobody could. He basically told me he was going to bring me up here to kill me, and leave my body for everyone to find and I just... God I didn't even care anymore."  
  
"Rory..." Lorelai said, showing her sympathy.  
  
"So, we came up here and he sat me on Jess's bed. Then I heard Jess's voice and I got hope, because before I had lost it all. I knew Jess would figure it out that we were up here, so I tried everything to delay whatever Brad was going to do to me. He yelled at me, saying stuff like 'Oh, I bet you had sex there to...' and just, really crude things. Then he got real calm and sat down and we talked a little. I thought of everything that would waste the most time before Jess came up here, and I figured only one of them would work." Rory took in a deep breath and tried to regain herself before finishing.  
  
"So I kissed him, and prayed Jess would come before it got taken to far..." Rorys voice drifted off and her eyes fell to the ground. Lorelai placed her fingers under Rory's chin and brought her face up to hers.   
  
"Then what?" she asked softly.  
  
"I couldn't do it. Even when I was thinking of Jess the whole time, I screamed for him to get off me. He got so angry... and he wouldn't get off me. He just pinned me down."  
  
Lorelai held her breath, she didn't want to hear the rest of the story. She didn't want to hear that her only daughter had been brutally assaulted, and raped. But she listened. She figured it was the only thing she could do for Rory.  
  
"Then we heard Luke and Jess yell your name, and he got off me and locked the door before anything else happened."  
  
Lorelai finally breathed, thank God, he didn't rape her. She felt a little more relieved as Rory continued.  
  
"But then, he just slapped me. He threw me off the bed and kicked me again... as hard as he could. I couldn't even remember where I was after that. He knocked all the wind out of me and the last thing I remembered was seeing your face, then, black."  
  
Lorelai hugged Rory again tightly, "Lets go home."   
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
Jess had taken every short cut in the book, and was at Brad's house in mere minutes. There was no way Brad could have gotten there faster, even if he had gone by car. Jess waitied patiently for him as he sorted through the ways of pumpling him to the ground. Jess had stayed on the side of the house, where he was invisible so Brad couldn't see him before he could see Brad.  
  
There he was. Why was he smiling? Did he think he got away with it? Any doubts Jess about kicking Brad's ass quickly faded away when he saw Brad's smirk. Brad walked up to his door, which Jess had rigged so it couldn't be opened, and Jess stepped out from the shadows.  
  
"Hey Brad."  
  
Brad jumped a foot and almost tripped over himself, "Uh, Jess, hey... what are you doing here?"  
  
"Hmm, I'll give you three guesses." Jess said, slowly making his way toward Brad.   
  
"Listen... It's not what you think. She went to your house and invited me there!" Brad said, trying to get his front door open.  
  
Jess didn't say anything, he just kept walking slowly towards Brad who kept moving backwards and making excuses.  
  
"She wanted me there, I swear it! Ask her!" Jess just stared him down. "Ok ok, so she didn't invite me there but she did kiss me first, that is NOT a lie!"  
  
Jess couldn't take it anymore, any rage he had inside he was going to take out on Brad full force. He thought about his Dad, his old life, how he had caused Rory's accident, and most importantly - how Brad beat Rory, and how right now she could be dead. He charged towards Brad, and tackled him.  
  
They fell off Brad's porch and onto the ground, Jess had gotten on top of Brad and punched him as hard as he possibly could. Brad punched Jess in the stomach and he doubled over in pain, ultimatly falling off Brad. Brad rolled over and quickly got up, "Don't do this Jess, you do NOT want to fight me!" Brad said, starting to get mad.  
  
Jess jumped up and looked at Brad, "Like hell I don't." Jess, with a right hook, punched Brad in the mouth, sending him crashing the ground. When he was there, Jess grabbed Brad's hair and pulled his head back, so he could see his face. He smirked at him, then, as hard as he could, Jess slammed Brad's face down on the side of his porch, causing Brad to scream in pain.  
  
Brad rolled over on his back, blood pouring out of his nose and mouth. "Jesus... fucking Christ Jess!" Brad had finally gotten angry and slowly brought himself back up to his feet.  
  
"You wanna fight? Then lets roll." Brad charged Jess, and right before he hit him, Jess moved to the side and used Brad's momentum to send him charging into the side of Brad's car. Brad bounced off and again, fell to the ground.   
  
"C'mon!" Jess screamed, "Get up and fight like a man!"  
  
Brad got up and again charged Jess, who swung hard and hit him in the eye. Brad stumbled back, but did not fall, and Jess swung again with his left hand and knocked him flat on his stomach. While on the ground, Jess rolled him over and sat on top of him. Brad was to out of it to do anything to Jess and he knew it.   
  
Blood was pouring out of every hole in Brad's face, his eye already swelled up to the point where he couldn't open it, and it couldn't have remind Jess anymore of the way he had found Rory had it been Rory herself laying there on the ground in front of him.   
  
Jess looked in Brad's eyes, and Brad returned the gaze, knowing full well Jess could be the last person he'd ever see again.  
  
"I warned you," Jess whispered in an eery voice, " that if you ever touched her again..." he paused, staring at Brad long and hard before finishing. "That I would kill you."  
  
With that, he picked up Brad's head and slammed it into the concrete, and watched Brad's eyes roll backward as his eyelids fluttered shut. Jess stepped off of Brad, sweaty and tired. He backed away from him as the police pulled up, and couldn't believe what he had just done.   
  
"Excuse me, sir?" The policeman said, "Whats your name kid?"  
  
"Jess..." Jess breathed, unable to take his eyes off Brad.   
  
"So, is that Brad?" The police officer asked, but Jess didn't respond. "Hey, kid! Is that Bradley Stanlen or not?" The officer was getting impatient as Jess slowly nodded his head. He backed up and sat down on Brad's porch, unable to hold himself up any longer and listened to the officers conversation.  
  
"Jesus Chirst, Rick, look at this kid! What the hell happened to him?" The officer said to his partner.  
  
"Looks like someone beat the shit out of him. This is the guy that beat on that girl. Roren? Rorly?"  
  
"Rory." Jess corrected him.   
  
Rick eyed him weirdly then looked back at his parter, "Yea, Rory."  
  
Jess watched quietly as more officers surrounded the Stanlen home, and the ambulance showed up. It was like a scene in a movie, the kind where no matter how horrible and disturbing it is - you just can't take your eyes off of it. Jess watched the two paramedics rush over to Brad, as one placed two fingers under Brad's chin checking for a pulse. He waitied a couple seconds, then looked up at his partner and shook his head.  
  
"This kid's dead."  
  
After that Jess heard nothing, as he was flooded with emotions and could barely sit up straight. He began to breath heavily and almost passed out when an officer approached him, "Hey, um, Jess was it?"  
  
He nodded. The officer flashed his flashlight on Jess and saw the blood on his shirt and the skin torn open on his knuckles.   
  
"Your going to have to come with us."  
  
Jess stood up and the officer handcuffed him, but Jess had kept his eye's on Brad the whole time in disbelief. The officer walked him over to the cruiser and opened the door.   
  
"Watch your head," he said, just about to place him in the backseat. Then Jess finally tore his eyes away from Brad and looked in front of him. It was Rory, Luke and Lorelai, about 20 feet away.  
  
Their eyes locked. 'She's alive...' he thought, and he couldn't have been happier. They stared at eachother for a few seconds before she finally spoke.  
  
"I remember now," she yelled, "I love you Jess!"  
  
He began to tear up as he saw her alive, awake, and Ok. And best of all, she remembered. He stared at her, and sighed heavily.  
  
"Im sorry," he yelled back, "and I love you to! Im sorry!"  
  
She began to cry as she nodded to show she understood, and the officer shoved him into the backseat and slammed the door. Jess waited for the officer to climb in the front seat, and then asked him, no, begged him if he would be allowed to say goodbye to Rory before they took him away.  
  
"Sorry kid, can't do it. Chief's orders." The officer started the car and began to drive away, Jess turned around as far as he could and watched Rory get smaller and smaller out of the back window. Once she was out of sight he turned back around and leaned his head against the back seat. "Dammit!" he yelled.  
  
"Whoa calm down kid," the officer instucted him, "whats your problem?"  
  
"Nothing..." Jess mumbled.  
  
"You know," the officer piped in, "I know it's none of my buisness but... your so young and... well, was this girl really all the trouble?"  
  
Jess looked at the officer through the rearview mirror and at first said nothing.  
  
"Well," he repeated, "was she?"  
  
Jess nodded and stared out the window as he whispered barely loud enough for the officer to hear him,   
  
"Absolutely."  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
A/N - Wow. By far. The longest chapter I have ever written. To be honest, I hadn't even planned this chapter for it to turn out the way it did, but I know how I'm going to end my story and I think you'll all like it. As I said, next chapter will be my last. Please R&R, bc the more reviews, the quicker I try to post! Love u guys! R&R! 


	32. Couldn't Be Happier

Why Me? - Chapter 30 (Final Chapter)  
  
"Couldn't Be Happier"  
  
*~*  
  
About three years have passed since that fateful day, and Jess and Rory are still happily together. Rory is going on to her fourth year at Yale and is a full time student who works weekends at the Dragonfly Inn. Jess works the diner with Luke, as well as attending Hartford Community College. The two are saving up for a house, and as of now, live together in an apartment.   
  
Rory escaped from Brad's brutal attack with a broken cheekbone, a cracked rib, a fracture wrist, and a concussion. As well as many physically bruises that faded away with time, and emotional bruises that will remain forever. She's attended, and continues to attend, counseling and has recovered as fully as someone can, after being attacked so viciously.  
  
Jess got off scotch-free on all charges against him. He claimed self-defense, saying that Brad had attacked him. And with Brad's previous records, the court had believed him. He to went to counseling for post-traumatic stress with Rory, and was told to attend anger-management by the court system. He did.  
  
Luke and Lorelai's relationship eventually blossomed into something much more, and on February 24th, 2004 he asked for her hand in marriage. She accepted and they wed on May 7th, 2005.  
  
*~*  
  
"Hey Jess?" Twenty year old Rory Gilmore yelled from the bathroom.  
  
"Yea babe?" Twenty-one year old Jess Mariano yelled back.  
  
"Come here."  
  
"Hang on!" Jess said, intrigued by the last few plays of the football game he was watching.  
  
"NOW."  
  
Jess got up from the couch and walked away as far as he could from the TV while keeping his eyes glued to the football game. Then he turned the corner and walked through their bedroom and into the master bathroom. Their apartment wasn't small by any means but they still wanted a house to call their own, hence Jess and Rory saving up for one. He made his way into the bathroom and found Rory in a towel, obviously she had just taken a shower. He walked behind her and gently wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on her shoulder.  
  
"Geez you just can't resist me can you?" He said, tenderly nipping her earlobe.  
  
"Jess..." she said, motioning to the bathroom counter.   
  
"Wha..." he was cut off when the sight of a pregnancy test meet his eyes.  
  
"Oh my God..." he said, staring at the test, "Are you..."  
  
"Pregnant?" she said, finishing his sentence. "Yea, I think I am..."  
  
At first the two said nothing, but continued staring at the test for a few seconds. Then a smile crept on Jess's face, which Rory hadn't seen, and he grabbed on to the test as if to make sure it were real.  
  
"Were pregnant..." he whispered.  
  
"Definatly pregnant." Rory replied.  
  
"Were pregnant." Jess repeated, in disbelief.  
  
"Ok hun, now its getting kind of redundant." Rory paused and looked at Jess, who was still staring at the stick he was holding tightly in his hands. "And you might not want to hold on to that stick so tight, I peed on that thing." She stated matter-of-factly.  
  
Jess quickly dropped it and shook his hand up and down as if to 'shake off' any germs he might have acquired touching the test. Rory laughed at his absurdness, but quickly stopped when he faced her with a serious look on his face.  
  
"Were not married." He said.  
  
"I know."  
  
"We don't know anything about raising a child."  
  
"I know."  
  
"So, what now?"  
  
"Now," she sighed, "you tell me what your thinking because I have no idea whether your happy about this or... not." She searched for any kind of answer in his face, in his eyes, in his expressions... but with Jess being, well, Jess - she found none.  
  
Jess looked to the ground and shook his head back and fourth. Rory closed her eyes when she saw him do this, 'He doesn't want to have a baby with me,' she thought, 'what am I going to do...'   
  
She opened her eyes and to her surprise, she saw an estatic Jess with a smile from ear to ear standing in front of her.   
  
"Were having a baby," he repeated smoothly and quietly, "and I'm probably the happiest person alive right now."  
  
Rory screeched in excitment and squeezed Jess tightly who returned the huge with just as much love.  
  
"Were having a baby!" She screamed, "I know!" He replied in excitment.  
  
"We have to tell my Mom, and we have to tell to tell Luke... what about Yale?" She began to panic and started to pace, "Oh my God what about my job? What about us? Jess!" She turned around but he was gone.  
  
"Jess?" She walked out into the bedroom and found Jess on one knee in the doorway, obviously nervous as hell and holding up a tiny box.  
  
"Oh my God..." she said to herself.   
  
He held up the ring and began to stumble through his speech.  
  
"Rory, I was going to wait to do this until, well I wasn't exactly sure when. But I've known since the first time I laid my eyes on you that you were the one for me. We've been through the worst together, and the best together. You turned me into someone I thought I could never be, and I can say without a doubt that I am a better person because of you."  
  
Rory began to cry as he continued.  
  
"Now we are going to share a baby, something that will always and forever be a testimate to our love. I can't imagine my life without you, so, Rory Gilmore - will you marry me?"  
  
Rory slowly approached Jess and grabbed the box from his hands.  
  
"You can't be serious?" She said in utter shock.  
  
"Not the answer I was looking for..." he replied, beginning to get a little scared.  
  
A smile crept up on Rory's face as she shook her violently up and down and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him passionatly and crying. When she backed up, he took her left hand and slipped the ring onto her finger.  
  
"THATS the answer I was looking for." He said, relieved.  
  
*~*  
  
Later that day, Rory called Lorelai to inform her that she was engaged. Her mother was almost as excitied as Rory was, and invited the two of them over that night for a celebration party at the Gilmore household where Lorelai and Luke lived. Rory took that same opportunity to let everyone know she was pregnant - and happy about it. Lorelai at first was skeptical, questioning Rory about Yale and wondered if she was ready for a young pregnancy. Rory reassured her mother that would continue with Yale and be graduated before the baby was born, and that she was more than happy to accept the hardships that come with a young pregnancy. Lorelai hugged her daughter tightly and then led her upstairs to her room, where she informed Rory that, she to, was a month pregnant.  
  
On December 4th, 2006; Mr. and Mrs. Luke Dane's gave birth to Michael John Danes.  
  
On August 30th, 2006; Jess Mariano and Rory Gilmore got married after a short engagment and gave birth to Lorelai "Lorel" Gilmore Mariano on January 19th, 2007.   
  
Both couples couldn't be happier.  
  
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
THE END!  
  
Well, it has been an asbolute blast writing this story for you all. Seriously, your reviews would make my day and I hope in turn, somehow, my story made someones day. Now, I don't know whether or not to write a sequal to this story or explore other kinds of GG fanfics. I really want you guys to decide, so please let me know what you want!! Thanks to EVERYONE who reviewed!! I love you all!!   
  
-YesItsMe 


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